'Doomsday vault' in peril as temperatures warm

The Norwegian town hosting the world's "doomsday vault," which was chosen for its consistently cool climate, is facing unprecedented levels of warming and climate change.

The city of Longyearbyen has experienced a temperature increase of 3.7 degrees Celsius over the last century, which is more than triple the global average of around 1 degree Celsius, reports CNN.

Because of this, senior researcher at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute Inger Hanssen-Bauer says the town is probably warming quicker than any other place on earth, per CNN.

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The vault, which is located right outside of the town, currently stores nearly one million copies of the world's seed supply, with seeds coming from almost every country. Longyearbyen was chosen to hold the seeds because the area isn't prone to volcanoes or earthquakes, and Norway has an "extremely stable" political system, reports CNN.

But rising temperatures have begun to melt the permafrost the vault is built on, and the ground surrounding the vault's entrance has failed to refreeze. Read more about the "doomsday vault" in peril at CNN.