Reptile Lamp Database

Colorimetry is the science to describe physically the human color perception. The wavelength range 380 nm - 780 nm is visible to humans and detected by three different photoreceptors. Many Reptiles see the range 350 nm - 800 nm and have an additional UV photoreceptor in their retina.

WARNING: The measurement range (350 - 800 nm) is not sufficient for this evaluation! Data is only available in the range 250 - 559 nm. Results are shown anyway but should be ignored by anyone except experts.

Whereas a spectrometer measures the intensity in every tiny wavelength interval resulting in thousands of individual intensities, the human eye only measures three intensities detected by the three cones. The same is true for the reptile eye with usually three or four photoreceptors. Effectively the detailled spectrum displayed above reduces to a much compacter bar graph displayed below. The photoreceptor sensitivites from these L-Cone, M-Cone, S-Cone, and U-Cone are used, they are chosen as an average of measured reptile photoreceptor sensitivity curves. The bar graph also shows as reference the intensity seen by the three or four photoreceptors for average sunlight (id 1).

From these three numbers the colour coordinate and the correlated colour temperature for humans are calculated using the CIE standard method. I adapted this concept to a "3 cone reptile (M,S,U)" and a "4 cone reptile (L,M,S,U)". I am sure, that this adaption to other colour spaces makes sense mathematically and this is also done in scientific research regarding colour vision of animals, however I have not seen calculation of colour temperatures for other animals in the scientific literature. Even if it is hypothetical, at least this shows, how arbitrary the colour temperature is, and that the colour temperature calculated for humans does not apply to reptiles. The colour spaces also show the colour coordinates of different phases of daylight ((ids 1, 338 – 451, 511 – 513 ), indicated by crosses, coloured in the appriximate colour perceived by a human.

	Human (CIE)	3 cone reptile	4 cone reptile
Cone Excitation
Colour Coordinate	( 0.13 ; 0.079 )	( 0.41 ; 0.47 )	( 0.025 ; 0.4 ; 0.46 )
CCT	0 Kelvin	4900 Kelvin	11000 Kelvin
distance		0.14	0.29
colour space			3-D-graph not implemented yet

Vitamin D3 is produced by UVB radiation around 300 nm. 7DHC/ProD3 present in the skin is converted to PreD3 when absorbing an UV photon. PreD3 can be converted back to ProD3, to Lumisterol, or to Tachysterol when absorbing another UV photon or can be converted to Vitamin D3 in a warm environment.

This process prevents any overdose of vitamin D3 from UV radiation with a spectrum similar to sunlight. As a comparison the solar spectra at 20°(id:14) and at 85°(id:21) solar angle are shown.

The ratio of the two solarmeters 6.2 (UVB) and 6.5 (UV index) readings has proven a useful and very simply number to acess the spectral shape in the vitamin-d3-active region.

Effective irradiances are calculated for all ranges, actionspectra and radiometers currently present in this database.

The calculation method is a numerical implementation (Simpson's rule) of the formula

To learn more about calculating effective irradiances and radiometers I recommend this excellent report on UVB meters: Characterizing the Performance of Integral Measuring UV-Meters (pdf).

total ( 0 nm - 0 nm)	8.82 µW/cm² = 0.0882 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	0.000555 µW/cm² = 5.55E-6 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	0.00593 µW/cm² = 5.93E-5 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	8.82 µW/cm² = 0.0882 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	2.72 µW/cm² = 0.0272 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	2.8 µW/cm² = 0.028 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	3.4 µW/cm² = 0.034 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	2.71 µW/cm² = 0.0271 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	0.291 µW/cm² = 0.00291 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	0.683 µW/cm² = 0.00683 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	0.243 µW/cm² = 0.00243 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	0.593 µW/cm² = 0.00593 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	0.393 µW/cm² = 0.00393 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	0.455 µW/cm² = 0.00455 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	0.274 µW/cm² = 0.00274 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	5.69 µW/cm² = 0.0569 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	5.69 µW/cm² = 0.0569 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	0.472 µW/cm² = 0.00472 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	5.42 µW/cm² = 0.0542 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	5.31 µW/cm² = 0.0531 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	4.9 µW/cm² = 0.049 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	0.048 µW/cm² = 0.00048 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	0.0822 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	1.13 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	0.185 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	0.00231 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	0.00775
Vitamin D3	0.455 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	4.65 µW/cm²
Luminosity	4.86 lx
Human L-Cone	0.568 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	0.922 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	2.87 µW/cm²
CIE X	0.926 µW/cm²
CIE Y	0.56 µW/cm²
CIE Z	5.65 µW/cm²
PAR	22700 mol photons
Extinction preD3	2.96 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	9.54 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	1220 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	0.313 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	12200 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	0.199 m²/mol
L-Cone	0.241 µW/cm²
M-Cone	3.89 µW/cm²
S-Cone	4.46 µW/cm²
U-Cone	1.04 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	0.0523 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	4.41 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	3.31 µW/cm² (680 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	0.472 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	19.4 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	0.501 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	0.0525 µW/cm² (108 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	490 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	311 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	161 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	2.78 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	0.115
Leybold UVB	2.41 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	0.393 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0.000316 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	2.65 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	0.43 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	1.16 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	1.54 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	1.13 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	1.32 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	-0.000309 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	0.36 IU/min
UVX-31	2.97 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.00106 µW/cm²
IL UVA	0.67 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	0.108 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	1.57 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 14.6)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	2.04 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	0.0967 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	0.0543 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	0.0118 mW/cm²
LS122	0 W/m²
ISM400	0.0191 W/m²