Chancellor's Professor Chris Burn
Permafrost and ground ice; Physical geography of northwest Canada
| Degrees: | B.Sc. Durham, M.A. Carleton, Ph.D. Carleton, D.Sc. Durham, P.Geo. |
| Phone: | 613-520-2600 x 3784 |
| Email: | christopher.burn@carleton.ca |
| Office: | A330 Loeb Building |
Biography
Chris Burn came to Canada in 1981 as a Commonwealth Scholar, and completed both the M.A. (Geography, 1983) and Ph.D. (Geology, 1986) at Carleton. He then moved to U.B.C. as a Killam Post-doctoral Fellow to study with J. Ross Mackay, the world authority in his field. In 1989 Chris was awarded an NSERC University Research Fellowship, which he brought back to Carleton in 1992. He held an NSERC Senior Northern Research Chair at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies from 2002-12, throughout the program’s life. In January 2018, Chris was awarded a D.Sc. (Geography) by Durham University, after examination of his published research by an international panel, and in November that year the Polar Medal from Her Excellency Rt. Hon. Julie Payette, Governor-General of Canada. In June 2024, Chris received the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences Mentorship Medal for his contributions to and support for training of highly qualified personnel in the permafrost geosciences.
Chris is committed to long-term field investigations of frozen ground. His research is focused on the relations between climate and permafrost. He has been particularly interested in determining the response of ground temperatures and the active layer to climate warming as observed in the western Arctic since 1970. His program involves partnerships with several northern agencies, particularly the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun and the Northwest Territories Geological Survey. Dr Burn has been involved with the environmental and regulatory reviews of several northern projects, including the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project and the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway.
His research program strives to provide explanations for the behaviour of permafrost terrain that are founded in field verification of physically based models. Long-term observations at the Illisarvik drained lake field experiment build on Dr Mackay’s work and have given a 45-year record of active-layer development and near-surface ground temperatures that are among the longest in North America. Ground temperatures collected at Illisarvik and Garry Island confirm the effect of regional warming in winter on summer thaw depth. In central and southern Yukon data collection is primarily concerned with the effect of changes in surface conditions on ground temperatures, especially following forest fire in Takhini River Valley, near Whitehorse, and after thaw slumping, near Mayo. Graduate student projects have been woven into the general program that covers these themes.
The work has primarily been financially supported by NSERC, PCSP, the Aurora Research Institute, and Transport Canada. Northern agencies also provide critical assistance, especially the First Nation of Na Cho Nyak Dun and the Aurora Research Institute. Since 1992, 30 Master’s and five PhD theses have been completed in the program, with two Ph.D. theses and two M.Sc. projects underway.
Chris has served as Chair of NSERC’s Committee 186 (Scholarships and Fellowships Committee for Ecology and Earth Sciences, 2010); as Chair of the Canadian Northern Studies Trust Northern Science Committee for adjudication of Weston Awards for Northern Research (2007-11); as Vice-President of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (2004-09); President of the Arctic Circle (2009-12); Co-Chair of Transport Canada’s Network of Expertise in Northern Transportation Infrastructure Research (2011-14), and co-chair of NSERC’s Committee 1506 (Discovery Grants for Geosciences). He is Past-President of the International Permafrost Association (2024-26).
Photo credit: Sgt Johanie Maheu, Rideau Hall Her Excellency presents the Polar Medal to Christopher Robert Burn. Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, presented honours to Canadians in celebration of their exceptional achievements. The ceremony took place at Rideau Hall on November 5, 2018.
2024 – 2025
- On sabbatical
Awards
Mentorship Medal, Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences. June 2024.
Award for Scholarly Distinction in Geography, Canadian Association of Geographers. June 2023.
Martin Bergmann Medal, Royal Canadian Geographical Society. November 2022.
Polar Medal. November 2018.
Research Interests
Permafrost and ground ice
Physical Geography of Yukon and Northwest Territories
Current Research Projects
Permafrost and infrastructure sustainability (Emma Stockton, Ph.D. student; Pat Jardine, Astrid Schetselaar, Trevor Andersen, Rae Landriau, M.Sc. students, NSERC funded, including PermafrostNet)
Permafrost and climate change in the western Arctic (Loucas Diament Boustead, M.Sc. student, NSERC funded).
Key Publications
Burn, C.R., Lewkowicz, A.G., and Wilson, M.A. 2021. Long-term field measurements of climate-induced thaw subsidence above ice wedges on hillslopes, western Arctic Canada. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 32: 261-276. doi 10.1002/ppp.2113
Burn, C.R., Moore, J.L., O’Neill, H.B., Hayley, D.W., Trimble, J.R., Calmels, F., Orban, S.N., and Idrees, M. 2015. Permafrost characterization of the Dempster Highway, Yukon and Northwest Territories. Paper 705. Proceedings, 68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference and 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference, 21-23 September 2015, Quebec City, QC, Canadian Geotechnical Society, Richmond, BC. 8 p. https://carleton.ca/permafrost/wp-content/uploads/705.pdf
Burn, C.R. (editor), 2012. Herschel Island Qikiqtaryuk: A natural and cultural history of Yukon’s Arctic island. Whitehorse: Wildlife Management Advisory Council for the Yukon North Slope.
Burn, C.R., and Kokelj, S.V. 2009. The environment and permafrost of the Mackenzie Delta area. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 20: 83-105. DOI: 10.1002/ppp.655.
Burn, C.R. 2002. Tundra lakes and permafrost, Richards Island, western Arctic coast, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 39: 1281-1298. DOI: 10.1139/e02-035.
Burn, C.R. 1998. The response (1958 to 1997) of permafrost and near-surface ground temperatures to forest fire, Takhini River valley, southern Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 35(2): 184-199. https://doi.org/10.1139/e97-10
Burn, C.R. 1997. Cryostratigraphy, paleogeography, and climate change during the early Holocene warm interval, western Arctic coast, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 34: 912-925. DOI: 10.1139/e17-76.
Burn, C.R., and Smith, C.A.S. 1988. Observations of the “thermal offset” in mean annual ground temperature profiles at Mayo, Yukon Territory. Arctic, 41(2): 99‑104. https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic1700
Publications 2001-2024 with graduate students
Diament-Boustead, L., and Burn, C.R. 2024. Influence of storm trajectory on the stable isotope composition of precipitation at Inuvik, NT. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Permafrost, 16-20 June 2024, Whitehorse, YT. Edited by R. Beddoe and K. Karunaratne. International Permafrost Association: Ottawa, ON: 65-72. https://doi.org/10.52381/ICOP2024.77.1
Jardine, P.A., Burn, C.R., Humphries, J.K., Peter, B., Hope, G., Phillips, J., and McLaren, L.D. 2024. Snow management to reduce ground temperatures beside a road in the boreal forest near Mayo, Yukon. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Permafrost, 16-20 June 2024, Whitehorse, YT. Edited by R. Beddoe and K. Karunaratne. International Permafrost Association: Ottawa, ON: 160-167. https://doi.org/10.52381/ICOP2024.75.1
Landriau, R., Burn, C.R., Ensom, T., and Klengenberg, C. 2024. Performance of five drilling waste sumps, Mackenzie Delta, western Arctic Canada. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Permafrost, 16-20 June 2024, Whitehorse, YT. Edited by R. Beddoe and K. Karunaratne. International Permafrost Association: Ottawa, ON: 200-208. https://doi.org/10.52381/ICOP2024.146.1
Schetselaar, A.B., and Burn, C.R. 2024. Increases in highway maintenance costs in a permafrost environment undergoing climate change, Yukon, Canada. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Permafrost, 16-20 June 2024, Whitehorse, YT. Edited by R. Beddoe and K. Karunaratne. International Permafrost Association: Ottawa, ON: 373-381. https://doi.org/10.52381/ICOP2024.82.1
Stockton, E.J., Burn, C.R., Wilson, M.A., and Kokelj, S.V. 2024. Road surface n-factors across elevational and latitudinal treelines, Dempster-ITH corridor, western Arctic Canada. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Permafrost, 16-20 June 2024, Whitehorse, YT. Edited by R. Beddoe and K. Karunaratne. International Permafrost Association: Ottawa, ON: 422-430. https://doi.org/10.52381/ICOP2024.143.1
Schetselaar, A.B., Andersen, T.S., and Burn, C.R. 2023. Performance of climate projections for Yukon and adjacent Northwest Territories, 1991-2020. Arctic, 76(3): 244-264. https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic77263
Andersen, T.S., Jardine, P.A., and Burn, C.R. 2021. Long-term (2000-2017) response of like-bottom temperatures and talik configuration to changes in climate at two adjacent lakes, western Arctic coast, Canada. In Permafrost 2021: Merging permafrost science and cold regions engineering: Proceedings of the Regional Conference on Permafrost 2021 and the 19th International Conference on Cold Regions Engineering, 24-29 October 2021. Edited by J. Zufelt. American Society of Civil Engineers: Reston, VA: 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784483589.001
Media Views
3 May 2023 CBC National radio interview. The Current with Matt Galloway. Arctic research stalled by the war in Ukraine. Arctic research stalled by the war in Ukraine | CBC.ca
12 December 2022 CBC Website; CBC Explains. The world’s permafrost is rapidly thawing and that’s a big climate change problem. By Christy Climenhaga, 12 December. Also broadcast on CBC Ottawa All in a Day and other network stations. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/the-world-s-permafrost-is-rapidly-thawing-and-that-s-a-big-climate-change-problem-1.6674976
2 August 2021. CBC Radio. Yukon Morning with Elyn Jones. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-393-yukon-morning/clip/15858332-a-permafrost-researcher-says-yukons-permafrost-thaw-reaching
17 June 2019. CBC TV News, The National. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/the-national-permafrost-thaw-inuvik-tuktoyaktuk-1.5179842 See also (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ynabSmGGs)
Graduate Student Projects
Rae Landriau (M.Sc.) Migration of contaminants from drilling-waste sumps, Mackenzie Delta area, NWT.
Loucas Diament Boustead (M.Sc.). Isotopic composition of hillslope ice wedges near Illisarvik, NWT.
Emma Stockton (Ph.D.) Climate-ground surface temperature relations in the Dempster-ITH corridor, NWT.
Recent Theses (completed)
Trevor Andersen (M.Sc.): Gale-force downslope winds in Hurricane Alley, north Dempster Highway, Yukon. September 2023.
Patrick Jardine (M.Sc.): Reduction of ground surface temperatures beside highway embankments, central Yukon, Canada. September 2023.
Astrid Schetselaar (M.Sc.): Climate change induced increases in maintenance costs for Yukon Highways, 1994-2022. September 2023.
Memberships
Canadian Association of Geographers
Geological Association of Canada
Canadian Geomorphology Research Group
Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario
American Geophysical Union
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