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 ; 0.34 )	( 0.43 ; 0.38 )	( 0.29 ; 0.3 ; 0.27 )
CCT	5600 Kelvin	4600 Kelvin	5000 Kelvin
distance		0.041	0.038
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)	55300 µW/cm² = 553 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	55200 µW/cm² = 552 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	39.8 µW/cm² = 0.398 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	92.8 µW/cm² = 0.928 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	2030 µW/cm² = 20.3 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	39.8 µW/cm² = 0.398 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	351 µW/cm² = 3.51 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	1990 µW/cm² = 19.9 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	426 µW/cm² = 4.26 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	1940 µW/cm² = 19.4 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	1640 µW/cm² = 16.4 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	2590 µW/cm² = 25.9 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	1230 µW/cm² = 12.3 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	27000 µW/cm² = 270 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	38600 µW/cm² = 386 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	3020 µW/cm² = 30.2 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	44800 µW/cm² = 448 W/m²
VIS2 ( 400 nm - 680 nm)	34200 µW/cm² = 342 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	36300 µW/cm² = 363 W/m²
tmp ( 400 nm - 1100 nm)	52200 µW/cm² = 522 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	8690 µW/cm² = 86.9 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	10900 µW/cm² = 109 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	1300 µW/cm² = 13 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	7870 µW/cm² = 78.7 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	13000 µW/cm² = 130 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	15900 µW/cm² = 159 W/m²
IR2 ( 720 nm - 1100 nm)	13900 µW/cm² = 139 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	2.02 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	29.8 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	2.49 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	0.0163 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	0.0504
Vitamin D3	6.77 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	25800 µW/cm²
Luminosity	97600 lx
Human L-Cone	14600 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	12100 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	7080 µW/cm²
CIE X	13200 µW/cm²
CIE Y	13500 µW/cm²
CIE Z	13200 µW/cm²
PAR	172000000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	91.2 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	348 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	52000 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	2.91 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	649000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	0.893 m²/mol
L-Cone	12500 µW/cm²
M-Cone	13000 µW/cm²
S-Cone	11500 µW/cm²
U-Cone	5910 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	1.03 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	10800 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	8100 µW/cm² (83 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	7.16 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	101000 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	19.1 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	1.04 µW/cm² (0.107 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	7630 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	2110 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	14300 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	142 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	2.32
Leybold UVB	87.9 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	1460 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	375 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	36 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	16.4 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	1010 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	1600 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	36.3 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	-0.03 µW/cm²
Luxmeter	98600 lx
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	7.25 IU/min
UVX-31	454 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.0705 µW/cm²
IL UVA	1720 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	2.11 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	107 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 50.9)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	37 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	2.82 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power) (manuf.)	661 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	29.9 mW/cm²
LS122 (manuf.)	15.4 W/m²
ISM400 (first guess)	604 W/m²
LS122 (assumption)	34.1 W/m²
ISM400_new	582 W/m²
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power) (assumption)	652 W/m²