A symposium was held on 22nd September, 2015, at the 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference and 68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference to honour the memory of Professor J. Ross Mackay, the outstanding Canadian permafrost scientist. Nineteen papers were contributed to the program. The proceedings of the symposium may be downloaded here. The contents of the Proceedings are as follows:
Part 1. Reflections on the life and work of Professor Mackay
The geocryological bibliography of J. Ross Mackay (1915-2014) C.R. Burn
John Ross Mackay – Devoted tutor and best friend of Chinese permafrost research Guodong Cheng, Zhijiu Cui, Baolai Wang, and Huijun Jin
Reconstructing geomorphology: an appreciation of the contributions of J. Ross Mackay Michael Church
JRM: His early accomplishments, 1950s to the mid 1980s, and his results, 1990 to 2005 Hugh French
Science to Technology – The importance of understanding the fundamentals of permafrost science for engineers practicing in the north Don W. Hayley
Part 2. Regional studies on permafrost in Canada
Geohazard investigations of permafrost and gas hydrates in the outer shelf and upper slope of the Canadian Beaufort Sea S.R. Dallimore, C.K. Paull, A.E. Taylor, M. Riedel, H.A. MacAulay, M.M. Côté, and Y.K. Jin
Late Wisconsin glaciation of Hadwen and Summer islands, Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands, NWT, Canada Julian B. Murton, Mark D. Bateman, Richard I. Waller, and Colin Whiteman
Holocene lake-level recession, permafrost aggradation and lithalsa formation in the Yellowknife area, Great Slave Lowland S.A. Wolfe and P.D. Morse
Part 3. Hydrologic effects in permafrost regions
Estimating talik depth beneath lakes in Arctic Alaska Kenneth M. Hinkel and Christopher Arp
Lakes of the western Canadian Artic: Past Controls and Future Changes Philip Marsh, Tyler de Jong, Lance Lesack, Cuyler Onclin, and Mark Russell
Meteorological and geological influences on icing dynamics in subarctic Northwest Territories, Canada P.D. Morse and S.A. Wolfe
Geometry of oriented lakes in Old Crow Flats, northern Yukon P. Roy-Léveillée and C.R. Burn
Summer and winter flows of the Mackenzie River system Ming-ko Woo and Robin Thorne
Part 4. Problems in geocryology
Subdivision of ice-wedge polygons, western Arctic coast C.R. Burn and H.B. O’Neill
Retrogressive thaw slumps: From slope process to the landscape sensitivity of northwestern Canada S.V. Kokelj, J. Tunnicliffe, D. Lacelle, T.C. Lantz, and R.H. Fraser
Geochemistry of the active layer and permafrost in northwestern Canada: from measurements to Quaternary stratigraphy Denis Lacelle, Marielle Fontaine, and Steve V. Kokelj
Topoclimatic controls on active-layer thickness, Alaskan Coastal Plain Frederick E. Nelson and Melanie A. Schimek
Permafrost degradation adjacent to snow fences along the Dempster Highway, Peel Plateau, NWT H.B. O’Neill and C.R. Burn
The thermo-mechanical behaviour of frost cracks over ice wedges: new data from extensometer measurements Denis Sarrazin and Michel Allard