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.

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	( 0.33 ; 0.33 )	( 0.39 ; 0.45 )	( 0.31 ; 0.27 ; 0.31 )
CCT	5400 Kelvin	5300 Kelvin	4800 Kelvin
distance		0.11	0.075
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)	773 µW/cm² = 7.73 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	0.46 µW/cm² = 0.0046 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	0.497 µW/cm² = 0.00497 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	773 µW/cm² = 7.73 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	5.67 µW/cm² = 0.0567 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	9.56 µW/cm² = 0.0956 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	53.6 µW/cm² = 0.536 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	5.63 µW/cm² = 0.0563 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	18.2 µW/cm² = 0.182 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	47.9 µW/cm² = 0.479 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	18.5 µW/cm² = 0.185 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	44 µW/cm² = 0.44 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	29.7 µW/cm² = 0.297 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	34.7 µW/cm² = 0.347 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	19.7 µW/cm² = 0.197 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	494 µW/cm² = 4.94 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	687 µW/cm² = 6.87 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	45.7 µW/cm² = 0.457 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	712 µW/cm² = 7.12 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	658 µW/cm² = 6.58 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	166 µW/cm² = 1.66 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	198 µW/cm² = 1.98 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	30.6 µW/cm² = 0.306 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	149 µW/cm² = 1.49 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	124 µW/cm² = 1.24 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	51.2 µW/cm² = 0.512 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	0.536 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	3.45 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	0.688 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	0.428 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	0.487
Vitamin D3	1.47 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	458 µW/cm²
Luminosity	1860 lx
Human L-Cone	280 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	229 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	139 µW/cm²
CIE X	258 µW/cm²
CIE Y	259 µW/cm²
CIE Z	257 µW/cm²
PAR	3170000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	14.3 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	44.3 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	8930 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	4.69 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	62700 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	5.12 m²/mol
L-Cone	240 µW/cm²
M-Cone	209 µW/cm²
S-Cone	243 µW/cm²
U-Cone	90.1 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	0.627 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	194 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	157 µW/cm² (84.3 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	1.58 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	1840 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	1.95 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	0.624 µW/cm² (3.35 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	5460 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	5520 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	3080 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	12.4 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	0.442
Leybold UVB	8.35 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	30.5 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0.38 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	21.6 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	3.01 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	2.56 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	29.9 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	39.4 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	4.03 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	0.383 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	1.38 IU/min
UVX-31	23.2 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.00517 µW/cm²
IL UVA	36 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	0.384 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	8.41 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 21.9)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	4.9 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	0.298 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	7.97 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	0.552 mW/cm²
LS122	0.00164 W/m²
ISM400	5.81 W/m²