The Ocean Warrior Project is set to depart from Svalbard at the beginning of September. The project is taking place aboard Europe’s largest wooden schooner and aims to study the impact of climate change on the Arctic.
The project is the work of renowned Arctic explorer Jim McNeill and aims to collect a treasure trove of scientific data to better understand what is happening in the Arctic. The project is supported by a team of partners, including:
- Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)
- Valeport
- Mole Energy
- Dartmoor Brewery
- Henri Lloyd.
Commenting on the expedition, McNeill stated:
“Our quest is to help scientists put a better, more immediate ‘finger on the pulse of our planet’ by exploring the extreme environments on Earth in the greatest detail. These are the indicators of change and by measuring, benchmarking, and monitoring over a 10-year period we should be able to detect changes, both good and bad. Through the citizen science aspect of the explorations, we’re also enabling people from different walks of life to come and be part of something that will generate highly important scientific research…I am so honored and delighted to have Icarus and his team at PML spearheading the science. As one of the centers of excellence, worldwide, I look forward to pushing boundaries together.”
At the same time, Guy Frankland, the Head of Marketing at Valeport, added:
“We understand the pressing importance of expeditions such as this and are proud to be supporting Ocean Warrior with the provision of our leading-edge marine sensing and monitoring equipment. On board the project team will be using our SWiFT CTDplus profiler to gather important data. High quality, precision data is fundamental to the expedition’s success, enabling the team to measure and benchmark environmental change as the project develops.“
Also commenting on the expedition, Professor Icarus Allen, the CEO of Plymouth Marine Laboratory, stated:
“We’re delighted to be the scientific partner aboard Ocean Warrior and are extremely excited about the prospect of delivering research with her over a sustained time period. To support a sustainable future for the Ocean we need to be in a position to monitor the changes which are happening. Ocean Warrior will be a valuable addition to this pursuit and I’m looking forward to seeing how we can develop the project over the years ahead.”
For more info about the expedition, go to warrior-ocean.com.
