Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso officially opened the "doomsday" seed vault on Tuesday (February 26), an Arctic cave where different seeds will be stored in case a future disaster wipes out food-crops.

For the ceremony, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault received inaugural shipments of 100 million seeds that originated in over 100 countries, filling 676 boxes.

During the opening ceremony Stoltenberg unlocked the vault and, together with the African Nobel Peace Prize-winning environmentalist Wangari Maathai, he placed the first box of seeds in the vault.

The box, which was opened during the ceremony and then resealed before being placed in the vault, contained rice seeds originating from 104 countries.

Barroso and other dignitaries then deposited seeds during the ceremony.

The facility, situated on Svalbard only 1,000 kilometres south of the north pole, halfway between Norway and the pole, has the capacity to store 4,5 million different seed samples. Since each sample will contain on average 500 seeds, around 2,25 billion seeds may be stored there.

The vault which has become to be known as the Doomsday Vault and Noah's Arc, consists of three highly secure rooms located at the end of a 125-metre tunnel blasted out of a mountain.

Permafrost and the thick rock will ensure that the samples will remain frozen even if the electricity supply should fail.

The seeds will be stored at -18C. The seeds will be sealed in specially-designed foil packages which themselves are sealed inside boxes. The length of time a seed kan be kept in a frozen state depends on the species. According to the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which is one of the three organisations running the project, some seeds, if stored correctly, will be viable for a millennium or more. For example, barley can last 2,000 years, wheat 1,700 years and sorghum around 20,000 years.

In addition to guaranteeing stable permafrost, the location takes into account the prospect of rising sea levels due to global warming. Since it has been built so deep inside the mountain, any possible changes to the climate on Svalbard shouldn't matter.

The facility is highly secure and the seed boxes are scanned before entering the seed vault.

Apart from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the other two organisations involved in the management and financing of the vault are the Norwegian government and the Nordic Gene Bank.

The Norwegian government paid for the construction of the vault and will in the future finance the upkeep of the facility.

The Global Crop Diversity Trust has and will be providing scientific guidance and assistance in organising the shipment of seeds. It will also finance a large part of the management and operation.

The Nordic Gene Bank will be responsible for the management and operations.