TWO West Devon explorers are appealing to green-minded adventurers with a thirst for learning how the natural world and people are being affected by climate change.

Jim and Sam McNeill, are recruiting curious people who would like to become citizen scientists and join marine scientists who are embarking on a groundbreaking project to collect evidence of climate change in the ice fields of the Arctic.

They are taking two crews on two specially selected high latitude yachts after the original large wooden yacht nearly sank on a trial voyage to Norway earlier this year. The boats are capable of surviving loose ice collisions and have sails to avoid engine pollution of the pristine air.

Jim McNeill, who runs Global Warrior environmental expeditions from Princetown, is organising his latest initiative Ocean Warrior in partnership with the Marine Biological Association, Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) and the University of Plymouth. The aim is to demonstrate the importance and feasibility of real-time net zero marine science in critical support of long-range environmental research in tracking changes in extreme regions.

He is seeking to recruit to add to his team of citizen and professional scientists who will sail next summer on Ocean Warrior. They will collect indisputable data using advanced sensors from the Arctic Ocean and ice which will then be beamed back live to dashboards in the public domain.

Jim, Ocean Warrior’s founder, said: “Our vision is to raise awareness, educate, and captivate a diverse audience about the vital significance of Earth’s extreme environments in humanity’s struggle for survival.

“Through this collaboration, we aim to empower ordinary individuals from all walks of life to take action in addressing the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced – climate change. No previous sailing or expedition experience is necessary as full training is provided.”

Sam said: “It is an important aspect of our work that we have people from ordinary backgrounds who want to do extraordinary things.

They will be interested and curious about the world, especially when there’s so much concern about man’s influence on the environment and be optimistic about how the situation with climate change can be changed.

“We will train them to work for sustained periods in in harsh conditions in the Arctic and to live in close proximity with people they don’t know on board a yacht and to cope with bad weather at sea. But the reward is enormous – seeing close-up amazing scenery and wildlife and ultimately contributing to the field of scientific knowledge on how climate change is changing the environment in front of us.”

The crews will also have student scientists and an on-board reporter to feed back the progress and experiences. Citizen scientists will have to raise funds to take part and Jim will teach them how to do this.

Jim is a trained scientist and polar explorer. He has trained and guided many groups to the Polar Regions.

For more information about Ocean Warrior see https://www.global-warrior.com/expeditions/ocean-warrior