My research focuses on flow and transport within surface water systems, including rivers, streams, lakes, fresh-water wetlands, and salt-water marshes. I am particularly interested in coupling improved understanding of small-scale physical processes pertaining to turbulent boundary layers and aquatic canopies to larger scale modeling and prediction. This work is fundamental yet also has clear applications, reaching into real-world management issues including stream restoration, constructed treatment wetland design, aquaculture, and suspended sediment pollution control. In addition, it is at the interface of hydrology and a wide variety of other disciplines, including fluid mechanics, geomorphology, ecology, water resources, and oceanography.
Courses Taught
- ESCI 409: Geology and the Environment
- ESCI 654: Fate Transport in Environment
- ESCI 705/805: Principles of Hydrology
- ESCI 795/895: Topic/Hydrologic Data Analysis
- ESCI 796/896: Topics/HydroDataAnalysis
- IAM 999: Doctoral Research
- INCO 790: Advanced Research Experience
Research Interests
- Biogeochemistry
- Fluid Mechanics
- Geomorphology
- Hydrodynamics
- Hydrology
- Rivers/Streams
- Sediment
- Water Quality
- Water Supply
- Watershed
Selected Publications
Lightbody, A. F., Kui, L., Stella, J. C., Skorko, K. W., Bywater-Reyes, S., & Wilcox, A. C. (2019). Riparian Vegetation and Sediment Supply Regulate the Morphodynamic Response of an Experimental Stream to Floods. FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, 7. doi:10.3389/fenvs.2019.00040
Diehl, R. M., Wilcox, A. C., Stella, J. C., Kui, L., Sklar, L. S., & Lightbody, A. (2017). Fluvial sediment supply and pioneer woody seedlings as a control on bar-surface topography. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 42(5), 724-734.
Bywater-Reyes, S., Wilcox, A. C., Stella, J. C., & Lightbody, A. F. (2015). Flow and scour constraints on uprooting of pioneer woody seedlings. WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, 51(11), 9190-9206. doi:10.1002/2014WR016641
Manners, R. B., Wilcox, A. C., Kui, L., Lightbody, A. F., Stella, J. C., & Sklar, L. S. (2015). When do plants modify fluvial processes? Plant-hydraulic interactions under variable flow and sediment supply rates. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-EARTH SURFACE, 120(2), 325-345. doi:10.1002/2014JF003265
Nowinski, J. D., Cardenas, M. B., Lightbody, A. F., Swanson, T. E., & Sawyer, A. H. (2012). Hydraulic and thermal response of groundwater-surface water exchange to flooding in an experimental aquifer. JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY, 472, 184-192. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.09.018
Rominger, J. T., Lightbody, A. F., & Nepf, H. M. (2010). Effects of Added Vegetation on Sand Bar Stability and Stream Hydrodynamics. JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING, 136(12), 994-1002. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0000215
Radspinner, R. R., Diplas, P., Lightbody, A. F., & Sotiropoulos, F. (2010). River Training and Ecological Enhancement Potential Using In-Stream Structures. JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING, 136(12), 967-980. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0000260
Lightbody, A. F., Avener, M. E., & Nepf, H. M. (2008). Observations of short-circuiting flow paths within a free-surface wetland in Augusta, Georgia, USA. LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY, 53(3), 1040-1053. doi:10.4319/lo.2008.53.3.1040
Lightbody, A. F., & Nepf, H. M. (2006). Prediction of near-field shear dispersion in an emergent canopy with heterogeneous morphology. ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS, 6(5), 477-488. doi:10.1007/s10652-006-9002-7
Lightbody, A. F., & Nepf, H. M. (2006). Prediction of velocity profiles and longitudinal dispersion in emergent salt marsh vegetation. LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY, 51(1), 218-228. doi:10.4319/lo.2006.51.1.0218
