Atmospheric dynamicist Mark Olsen enjoys unplanned scientific discoveries and drumming in his rock band with his Goddard friends.

What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard's mission?

I'm an atmospheric dynamicist. I look at the transport of air and its constituents in the atmosphere, and the drivers of this transport. We look at the state of the atmosphere now and in the past to determine how it changed and to predict how it can change in the future.

My primary area of expertise is the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere and the interactions and transport between them. The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere and is the layer where we live and where our weather happens. The stratosphere is the next layer above the troposphere and is the location of 90 percent of the ozone in the entire atmosphere.

A lot of my work involves ozone. Ozone is naturally produced in the stratosphere where it is beneficial because it shields the surface from damaging ultraviolet radiation. Ozone can, however, descend into the troposphere and then impact the quality of the air that we breathe. Its long lifetime in the lower stratosphere also makes it useful as a tracer of transport.

The upper troposphere and lower stratosphere region is also important to the radiation balance of the atmosphere. Ozone and water vapor strongly impact the radiation balance and have their greatest effect in that region.

The radiation comes from the sun. Simply stated, the atmosphere absorbs and reflects a portion of this incoming radiation and the rest passes to the surface. Again, it is either reflected or absorbed and re-radiated back towards space by Earth. The balance of this radiation determines the temperature of Earth and of the atmosphere.

Does your work also involve climate change?

One aspect of my work involves climate change. For example, I work with the transport of ozone, water vapor and other gases that impact the radiation balance. A lot of my work involves looking at this transport and how it can change and impact climate and especially how it can be impacted by climate change.

You have a research faculty position at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. How did you get to Goddard?

After graduate school, I came to Goddard on a National Research Council Post Doctoral Fellowship. Goddard has a cooperative agreement that includes Morgan State University. I work for Morgan State as part of their research faculty, but physically I work at Goddard.

My position does not include teaching classes; I perform research. A lot of people in our laboratory are also part of this cooperative agreement and technically work for Morgan State University or one of the other organizations included in the cooperative agreement.

What does scientific collaboration mean to you?

I'm involved with several projects and groups within our lab. Scientists often collaborate because many science projects are very broad, too broad for any one scientist to tackle. Scientific collaboration ranges from having different people analyze and coordinate data to just discussions and bouncing ideas off of each other.

Debates among scientists can actually be good for science. They get people thinking about all angles of a problem. Many times the answers are not clear-cut. You have to consider all points of view. In science, you always have to be able to modify or even give up on an idea if it is proven wrong. That's just part of science.

Why did you become a physicist?

My undergraduate and Ph.D. are in physics. Growing up, I launched model rockets, built model planes and liked to take things apart to see how they worked. I was always interested in science and in how things worked. In middle school, I decided I wanted to be an aerospace engineer. I started college with that major. Then I decided that I preferred the research aspects so I switched to physics.

What kind of a physicist are you?

I like to call myself an observational physicist as opposed to the more common designations of theoretical or experimental physicist. We rely heavily on observations of the atmosphere. We use satellite, ground and plane observations to support or reject hypotheses and validate computer simulations. We frequently need to combine our analyses with computer models to help evaluate what is really going on in the atmosphere.

What excites you about science?

I love the problem-solving aspect, finding the best way to tackle a problem, coming up with new approaches or algorithms to analyze data. I also enjoy the sense of discovery. Some of the most satisfying work I do is when I find something that I was not expecting. I may be working on one thing when something pops out at me that is completely new and somewhat surprising. I never know what is going to happen and that uncertainty keeps my work very interesting. I like surprises, especially when they are scientific discoveries. Unplanned discoveries always keep things interesting.

Is there something surprising about you, your hobbies, interests or activities outside of work that people do not generally know?

I'm a member of a rock band called LadderShark. I'm the drummer. Pete Colarco, who is in our lab, is the bassist and Dave Chuss, who works at Goddard, is our guitarist and lead singer.

I also brew beer and am a member of the zymurnauts or beer-making club at Goddard.

Do you have a favorite way or place to kick back, relax or have fun?

Family is first. I enjoy spending time with my wife and our two sons. Whether it is some kind of sports, camping with the scout groups or just chilling together with a movie, we can always have fun together. My youngest son is starting the clarinet and my older son is becoming a very good saxophone player. Who knows, maybe they'll join our band.

Name: Mark Olsen

Title: Assistant Research Scientist, Morgan State University Baltimore, Maryland

Organization: Code 614, Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics, Science Directorate