Mati Kahru received his Ph.D. in biological oceanography from the Shirshov Institute of Oceanography in the former Soviet Union and an undergraduate degree from Tartu University in Estonia.
He is a research oceanographer in the Integrative Oceanography Division at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Working in the Scripps Photobiology Group, he specializes in satellite oceanography, including remote sensing and the optics of phytoplankton.
His most recent research has focused on using satellite data to detect trends in phytoplankton blooms and primary production, the basic production of organic compounds in the ocean. His research shows that phytoplankton blooms have increased in various coastal areas of the world. He also has developed visualization and data mining software that can be used in a variety of scientific projects.
His research covers regions across the globe from the Baltic Sea to Costa Rica to the Southern Ocean off Antarctica. He has taught satellite oceanography at universities around the world, including Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Portugal, Germany, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.