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 250.17 - 780.01 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	( 0.28 ; 0.31 )	( 0.32 ; 0.52 )	( 0.25 ; 0.24 ; 0.39 )
CCT	9100 Kelvin	6600 Kelvin	6200 Kelvin
distance		0.17	0.13
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)	1140 µW/cm² = 11.4 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	2.17 µW/cm² = 0.0217 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	19.9 µW/cm² = 0.199 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	1140 µW/cm² = 11.4 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	264 µW/cm² = 2.64 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	310 µW/cm² = 3.1 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	446 µW/cm² = 4.46 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	246 µW/cm² = 2.46 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	121 µW/cm² = 1.21 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	182 µW/cm² = 1.82 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	87.7 µW/cm² = 0.877 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	136 µW/cm² = 1.36 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	60.8 µW/cm² = 0.608 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	55.4 µW/cm² = 0.554 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	34.2 µW/cm² = 0.342 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	625 µW/cm² = 6.25 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	722 µW/cm² = 7.22 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	53 µW/cm² = 0.53 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	695 µW/cm² = 6.95 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	681 µW/cm² = 6.81 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	252 µW/cm² = 2.52 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	235 µW/cm² = 2.35 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	29.6 µW/cm² = 0.296 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	105 µW/cm² = 1.05 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	21 µW/cm² = 0.21 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	7.47 µW/cm² = 0.0747 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	46.8 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	156 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	72.4 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	6.75 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	17
Vitamin D3	146 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	470 µW/cm²
Luminosity	2080 lx
Human L-Cone	302 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	276 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	211 µW/cm²
CIE X	263 µW/cm²
CIE Y	290 µW/cm²
CIE Z	387 µW/cm²
PAR	3170000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	630 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	2300 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	358000 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	365 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	2950000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	466 m²/mol
L-Cone	241 µW/cm²
M-Cone	237 µW/cm²
S-Cone	382 µW/cm²
U-Cone	121 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	58 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	267 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	239 µW/cm² (115 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	156 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	2230 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	84.4 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	57.4 µW/cm² (276 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	434000 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	549000 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	36900 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	367 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	44
Leybold UVB	259 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	78.1 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	1.43 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	321 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	64 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	161 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	166 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	155 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	206 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	2.07 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	137 IU/min
UVX-31	342 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.164 µW/cm²
IL UVA	107 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	29.1 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	183 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 6.3)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	232 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	11.7 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	8.18 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	1.59 mW/cm²
LS122	0 W/m²
ISM400	4.13 W/m²