Next in our researcher profile series is Altug Ekici from Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany.

 

Photo by Altug EkiciName

Altug Ekici

 

Institution

Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (Jena/Germany)

 

Nationality

Turkish

 

Research Field

Developing a global soil model by incorporating key processes specific to cold soils to better represent permafrost dynamics in order to achieve more accurate future estimates for these regions

 

How is your research affiliated with the PAGE21 project / what parts of your research will be a direct input to PAGE21?

The model I develop will be used to quantify future effects of permafrost climate interactions

Altug at the PAGE21 Hamburg General Assembly 2012. Photo by Alfred Wegener Institute.

What is the current challenge within this topic?

The kind of models we are working with include substantial amounts of code and highly complex interactions within different modules. Trying to put finer and finer scale processes into the model require long time and high concentration in order to keep the overall model consistency. Then the other challenge is how to evaluate the model performance with the existing permafrost observations, which is very sparse and mostly low quality due to harsh and remote conditions at the field.

 

How did it happen that you became a researcher?

Being a computer scientist was boring. I needed to use my knowledge for something more useful for the environment.

 

Why do you like being the researcher?

I can see how my work actually integrates with others. These scientific collaborations – working with smart people all around the world – create a unique way to get loads of experience. And of course the chance of travelling to many interesting places for meetings/conferences is a big plus!

 

What do you like the most in being a researcher?

Keep learning new stuff, meeting interesting people in surprising places, using human technology for the sake of Earth and the flexible working hours...

The office. Photo by Altug Ekici.

 

How a typical working day looks like?

Techno-social part: answering e-mails, establishing/maintaining collaborations, or checking relevant meetings and publications
Self work part: coding to include new stuff or improve the current model, debugging for tiny errors, writing scripts to carry on simulations in clusters or to prepare model data evaluations

 

Funniest response ever when you told somebody that you are a "polar researcher"?

Someone tried to relate to the topic as: "so its like working for the air conditioning systems, right?" or the more common response (concern) is: "its way too cold there, don't you get
sick?"

 

Future plans

Finish my PhD and then pursue a scientific career with a researcher position in an exciting place.

 

Most interesting experience so far in your career?  

Most interesting (depressing) thing in modeling works is to spend several months to include some natural processes and then going to a field trip and seeing how diverse and almost impossible to make a single rule of the reality... 

 

The response from non-modellers is either "you must be very smart" or "so you don't know anything about the real life".