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	( 0.3 ; 0.32 )	( 0.37 ; 0.42 )	( 0.26 ; 0.27 ; 0.31 )
CCT	7100 Kelvin	5600 Kelvin	5600 Kelvin
distance		0.076	0.056
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)	3400 µW/cm² = 34 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	3.64 µW/cm² = 0.0364 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	5.51 µW/cm² = 0.0551 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	3400 µW/cm² = 34 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	164 µW/cm² = 1.64 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	178 µW/cm² = 1.78 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	193 µW/cm² = 1.93 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	162 µW/cm² = 1.62 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	23 µW/cm² = 0.23 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	29.6 µW/cm² = 0.296 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	9.27 µW/cm² = 0.0927 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	15.3 µW/cm² = 0.153 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	6.61 µW/cm² = 0.0661 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	238 µW/cm² = 2.38 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	5.1 µW/cm² = 0.051 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	2620 µW/cm² = 26.2 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	3160 µW/cm² = 31.6 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	434 µW/cm² = 4.34 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	3200 µW/cm² = 32 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	2930 µW/cm² = 29.3 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	892 µW/cm² = 8.92 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	991 µW/cm² = 9.91 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	126 µW/cm² = 1.26 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	581 µW/cm² = 5.81 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	173 µW/cm² = 1.73 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	44.9 µW/cm² = 0.449 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	19.4 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	115 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	27.8 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	3.92 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	6.21
Vitamin D3	76.9 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	1990 µW/cm²
Luminosity	8840 lx
Human L-Cone	1310 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	1130 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	767 µW/cm²
CIE X	1180 µW/cm²
CIE Y	1230 µW/cm²
CIE Z	1470 µW/cm²
PAR	13700000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	326 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	1060 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	168000 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	129 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	1330000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	135 m²/mol
L-Cone	1080 µW/cm²
M-Cone	1140 µW/cm²
S-Cone	1290 µW/cm²
U-Cone	660 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	20.9 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	1090 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	826 µW/cm² (93.5 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	86.9 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	9550 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	44.2 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	20.5 µW/cm² (23.3 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	157000 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	160000 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	22000 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	200 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	22
Leybold UVB	161 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	26.6 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	2.37 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	154 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	32.2 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	108 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	48.4 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	37.1 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	119 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	2.79 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	68.7 IU/min
UVX-31	177 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.0875 µW/cm²
IL UVA	25.3 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	16.7 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	98.9 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 5.92)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	150 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	7.15 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	31.7 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	1.95 mW/cm²
LS122	0.00763 W/m²
ISM400	20 W/m²