Coastal Restoration Internship (GIS focus)

At Running Tide, we build technologies that allow us to harness the power of the ocean to build a climate positive future. Oceans represent two-thirds of the Earth’s surface and have an understated role to play in the future of our life on Earth. Once abundant marine ecosystems and thriving coastal communities are now suffering due to pollution, ocean acidification and declining water quality. At Running Tide, we have experienced this firsthand, and we know the problem won't solve itself. That’s why we are building technologies to accelerate, scale and optimize the naturally restorative benefits of shellfish and kelp in the ocean. 

Our technologies enable us to rebuild food systems that are zero carbon and provide positive ecosystem services. Our shellfish production is mostly automated, entirely data-driven, and takes up a only a fraction of the space as traditional shellfish operations. Shellfish are the optimal protein for a growing population because they are delicious, healthy, and climate positive.

We are also building the most efficient carbon removal system in the world. Kelp is a macroalgae that absorbs CO2 from the water as it grows. Using ocean currents and gravity we sink the kelp and its embodied carbon to the deep ocean where it remains for thousands of years. Our technologies enable us to reduce the cost, predict outcomes, and massively scale carbon removal. 

Using our technologies and production capabilities of our shellfish and kelp hatcheries, we also restore Blue Carbon habitats in coastal ecosystems. Our coastal shellfish reefs, kelp forests and seagrass meadows are engines for biodiversity and job creation, however these ecosystems are severely degraded all over the world. These ecosystems drive direct economic value to coastal communities and protect our coasts from storms and erosion. Only active restoration efforts will bring these systems back into balance, giving future generations the opportunity to benefit from the ocean's bounty.

The ocean is critical to human and planetary health —but ocean health is in rapid and accelerating decline. We believe that we have the responsibility —and ability —to act.

Running Tide is a global ocean health company. Our fast-growing, multidisciplinary teams of world-class scientists, engineers, and maritime operators, design and implement interventions that rebalance Earth’s carbon cycle, decarbonize global supply chains, restore marine ecosystems, and revitalize coastal communities. Our corporate operations, business development, communications, and policy teams support Running Tide’s front-line workers in scaling our interventions to tackle humanity’s most urgent challenges: restoring ocean health and combating climate change.

In this position you will work closely with the coastal restoration group on Running Tide's commercial team. Your main responsibility will be to lead geospatial analysis and development of GIS-based products to frame site suitability information for each coastal intervention type in the Running Tide portfolio. You will use a range of publicly available spatial datasets for northeast US coastal waters such as temperature and nutrient climatologies, benthic substrate types, water quality parameters from remote sensing, fisheries resource management, bathymetric depths, tidal ranges, wave conditions, and vessel traffic statistics. You will complete case studies focused on two geographic regions: the Peconic Bays at the eastern end of Long Island in New York, and an offshore wind development lease area (to be determined) with the areas affected by its planned cable runs leading to shore.

Other responsibilities will include assisting with improvements to the data management and visualization tools for our water quality time series observation datasets from our proprietary coastal moorings, and image-based data collection tasks in support of our ongoing shellfish operations. Products of your work will help our organization make strategic decisions related to planning and scalability of our coastal interventions. 

This is intended to be a full-time, 24-week internship with an expected start date of July 10, 2023 and end date of Dec 15, 2023. There is some flexibility with those dates.

Our teams operate with utmost persistence. We are tackling the world’s most difficult and important problems, and we are unwavering in our motivation to find a solution. At our core, we are innovators driven to do "more good" rather than "less bad" in the world.

Running Tide is committed to building a diverse team, bringing as many possible perspectives to bear on the unprecedented challenges facing our planet. We are committed to building an inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds  can come to do their best work.

All offers of employment at Running Tide are contingent upon clear results of a thorough background check.