Recently we reported on the deposit of 50,000 seeds into the “Doomsday Vault” on Svalbard Island in Norway. The vault is buried in the side of a snow packed mountainside and sealed to preserve the precious seeds that produce Earth’s food supply. In case of a catastrophic event jeopardizing our most fruitful plants and vegetables, these seeds are stored safely and can remain usable for nearly two centuries. The consistent cool temperatures resulting from the surrounding permafrost act as a built in refrigeration system.
Now, another similar storage system on the same island, Svalbard, is serving to protect the massive information files for humanity. The new “Digital Doomsday Vault” or Arctic World Archive, managed by Norwegian company Piql as well as a Norwegian coal mining company, will store data transferred to film for 1,000 years or more.
Global Doomsday seed vault on Svalbard Island. Global Crop Diversity Trust photo.
National Archives of Mexico and the National Archives of Brazil have sent data so far to be stored in the vault.The Brazilian constitution was one of the documents sent though the storage facility is open to any and all historic documents states Piql.
All data processed by Piql will be formatted to photosensitive film which is impossible to delete or manipulate and is able to resist heavy wear and tear. When data is stored in analog form the contents is protected from remote alteration or cyber attacks of any kind. Considered more future proof than digital, analog requires no special updates or codecs to read the information if some rest of catastrophic degree were to occur. As long as internet servers are functional all data will remain accessible online and digitally delivered or shipped by request of a user.
These film reels will be stored deep inside a permafrost encased abandoned mine with a consistent temperature of 0 degrees Celsius.
Photographers stationed outside the “Doomsday” seed vault in Svalbard at its opening in 2008. (AP Photo/John McConnico)
Having both the “Doomsday” seed vault and now, the “Doomsday” data vault on the same island, Svalbard, opens up discussion from critics on ease of terrorism or natural disaster implications. With the widespread and multi – level destabilization in our world today, these precious archives will help humans piece together a cultural puzzle should a catastrophe of mass proportions destroy large amounts of data.
Last week we posted news about the Doomsday Vault in Svalbard. The facility took in 50,000 new seeds for safe storage in the event of a catastrophe on Earth. Here is a fascinating video tour of the vault in the Arctic and how it all works! Enjoy!
Acclaimed Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi performed “Elegy for the Arctic” near the Wahlenbergbreen glacier in Svalbard, Norway to bring attention to the pressing global warming issue. Einaudi played on a baby grand piano on a floating platform as a glacier crumbled into the water around him. Greenpeace shipped the piano to the region from Norway on their ship the Arctic Sunrise.
Greenpeace sponsored the event in conjunction with OSPAR Commission meeting in Tenerife, Spain this week to make crucial decisions toward preserving the Arctic regions. A proposal to protect 10% of the Arctic ocean will foremost on the agenda. – OSPAR is so named from the original Oslo and Paris Conventions -“OS” for Oslo and “PAR” for Paris- that initiated the movement of protecting the Arctic.
“Being here has been a great experience. I could see the purity and fragility of this area with my own eyes and interpret a song I wrote to be played upon the best stage in the world,” Einaudi expressed via news release from Greenpeace. “It is important that we understand the importance of the Arctic, stop the process of destruction and protect it.”
Voicesforthearctic.org, is the website built by Greenpeace dedicated to the issue. Please help in protecting this fragile and pristine ecosytem and environment.
I read an article on the internet about a polar bear that had died in Svalbard and the propaganda being put forth about global warming was nauseating. Not that I don’t believe global warming is in fact truly occurring …but one dead polar bear can ,in no way, verify that truth. Nor can one colder than normal winter substantiate the claim that global warming is a hoax.
The photo and story of the “bear rug” as it was described accurately, was supposed to accentuate the pro-warming angle being plead by many. One starved polar bear “bearing” the torch for the global warming crusade. Somewhat slanted journalism in my opinion.
I am an proponent of the global warming theory and I respect the many scientific -based organizations that put forth the growing evidence of sea – ice loss and warming trends in our planets climate. I feel ,however, that at times we try to hard to persuade the nay-sayers with unfounded propaganda that turns people away from the cause of protecting our planet.
For the time being let’s just enjoy the fact that many bears arriving on -land in the southern Hudson Bay are healthy polar bears ready to wait out the freeze -up a little more comfortably this fall. Apparently the sky is not falling..just yet. Check out these rather plump bear photo’s taken just a couple of days ago by Churchillian Jody Grosbrink.
