Mikko Vihtakari
Researcher at Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Norway
Tromsø, Troms og Finnmark, Norway
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolMikko Vihtakari is a numeric ecologist and scientific diver with 12 years of experience studying population ecology and assessing deep-sea and cartilaginous fish, currently researching at the Institute of Marine Research in Tromsø. He combines strong R programming and statistical skills with hands-on fieldwork—from Arctic scientific diving and commercial diving to seabird and plankton studies—bridging quantitative analysis and practical logistics. His PhD in Arctic Marine Biology and freelance background supporting polar expeditions give him rare expertise in safety, field photography, and Arctic operational support. He excels at turning complex ecological data into clear visualizations and robust assessments, often preferring to validate models in the field rather than behind a screen.
12 years of coding experience
4 years of employment as a software developer
Scuba Diving, PADI Open Water Dive Instructor, Scuba Diving, PADI Open Water Dive Instructor at Two Fish Diving, Lembongan & Amed, IndonesiaDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Arctic Marine Biology, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Arctic Marine Biology at UiT- The Arctic University of NorwayInshore and offshore commercial diver, Inshore and offshore commercial diver at Norwegian School of Commercial DivingMaster’s Degree, Fish Biology and Fisheries, B (second highest), Master’s Degree, Fish Biology and Fisheries, B (second highest) at Jyväskylän yliopisto
English, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, Danish
Stackoverflow
7,610reputation
1.1mreached
101answers
80questions
signal-processing
top-5%
r
top-5%
excel
top-5%
Github Skills (96)
spatial10
r10
plot10
r-package10
geos10
proj10
data-visualisation10
signal-processing9
gdal9
excel9
visualization9
glmm9
grammar9
tmb9
satellite-images9
Programming languages (8)
Github contributions (5)
MikkoVihtakari/ggOceanMaps
Apr 2020 - Nov 2022
Plot oceanographic research data on maps using ggplot2
Contributions:6 releases, 93 commits, 5 PRs in 2 years 7 months
ggplot2plotresearch-datavisualization
MikkoVihtakari/ggOceanMapsLargeData
Sep 2020 - Sep 2022
Contributions:15 commits, 16 pushes, 1 branch in 2 years
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