On Svalbard, another "Repository of the Judgment Day" will be opened for valuable literature

The global "Day of Judgment", built on the Arctic archipelago of Spitsbergen (Norway), will be supplemented with an autonomous archive for valuable data and important cultural relics in the event of nuclear apocalypse, natural disasters or cyberattacks.

The repository for digital heritage

If the Global Seed Vault is a repository for plant seeds from around the world, then the Arctic World Archive will store the world's digital heritage. This was stated by the representatives of Piql - a private Norwegian technical company, which is engaged in this project.

Arctic World Archive hopes to work with governments, academic institutions, authorities, companies and even private individuals to safely store analogue film copies of data in an "emergency-resistant" storage facility. The National Television Company of Norway (NRK) reported that representatives of Brazil and the National Archives of Mexico have already gone to Svalbard. The main problem in Mexico is the earthquake that destroys the archives, while Brazil takes more care of cybersecurity. Information on what exactly these countries will be stored, yet, although it is likely to be documents of political significance, historical and cultural literature.

What do we know about the company that oversees the project

Piql began operating in 2002. At that time it was an ordinary company that converted Hollywood and Bollywood movies from digital to analog format. Not forgetting about his love for analog form, the company has since developed and started to deal with data preservation.

It may surprise you that the fate of mankind will be stored on old-fashioned rolls of film, but this format means that they will not be at risk of manipulation or remote cyber attacks, which pose the greatest threat to data protection.

Data storage conditions

The databank will be buried deep within permafrost, on an abandoned coal mine in the mountains near Longyearbyen, where the average temperature is -4.7 ° C and can fall sharply to -46.3 ° C in winter. Nevertheless, the conditions and temperature in the data bank will in fact remain stable, providing the necessary environment for preserving the films.

Piql believes that the data can be reliably stored for more than 1000 years. Just like in the case of the Global Seed Vault, Svalbard was chosen because it has a well-established connection with the rest of the world, but at the same time is a neutral demilitarized place located far from global political threats, although here one still has to deal with Polar bears.