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	( 0.41 ; 0.45 )	( 0.29 ; 0.39 )	( 0.51 ; 0.15 ; 0.19 )
CCT	3800 Kelvin	7800 Kelvin	2800 Kelvin
distance		0.051	0.15
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)	108000 µW/cm² = 1080 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	42 µW/cm² = 0.42 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	49.7 µW/cm² = 0.497 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	108000 µW/cm² = 1080 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	37.7 µW/cm² = 0.377 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	43.2 µW/cm² = 0.432 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	7010 µW/cm² = 70.1 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	30.1 µW/cm² = 0.301 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	53.8 µW/cm² = 0.538 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	6970 µW/cm² = 69.7 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	70 µW/cm² = 0.7 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	6960 µW/cm² = 69.6 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	6910 µW/cm² = 69.1 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	7370 µW/cm² = 73.7 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	6800 µW/cm² = 68 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	80000 µW/cm² = 800 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	103000 µW/cm² = 1030 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	4830 µW/cm² = 48.3 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	99600 µW/cm² = 996 W/m²
VIS2 ( 400 nm - 680 nm)	92900 µW/cm² = 929 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	95800 µW/cm² = 958 W/m²
tmp ( 400 nm - 1100 nm)	101000 µW/cm² = 1010 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	11400 µW/cm² = 114 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	32200 µW/cm² = 322 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	21100 µW/cm² = 211 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	22400 µW/cm² = 224 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	7690 µW/cm² = 76.9 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	4760 µW/cm² = 47.6 W/m²
IR2 ( 720 nm - 1100 nm)	2640 µW/cm² = 26.4 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	16.6 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	19.8 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	19.7 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	27.1 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	37.2
Vitamin D3	25.3 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	56500 µW/cm²
Luminosity	421000 lx
Human L-Cone	64100 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	50100 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	10800 µW/cm²
CIE X	54800 µW/cm²
CIE Y	59700 µW/cm²
CIE Z	19300 µW/cm²
PAR	474000000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	371 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	805 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	304000 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	269 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	1010000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	301 m²/mol
L-Cone	56500 µW/cm²
M-Cone	16200 µW/cm²
S-Cone	21500 µW/cm²
U-Cone	17400 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	32.5 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	13400 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	12500 µW/cm² (29.7 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	26 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	288000 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	21.8 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	32.2 µW/cm² (0.766 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	264000 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	310000 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	171000 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	107 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	10.7
Leybold UVB	34.2 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	4860 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	20.5 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	81 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	37.3 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	22 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	1940 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	5850 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	34 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	23.3 µW/cm²
Luxmeter	435000 lx
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	33.5 IU/min
UVX-31	303 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.0532 µW/cm²
IL UVA	6520 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	6.58 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	36.8 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 5.6)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	39.5 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	3.89 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power) (manuf.)	1170 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	90.8 mW/cm²
LS122 (manuf.)	5.3 W/m²
ISM400 (first guess)	849 W/m²
LS122 (assumption)	53.2 W/m²
ISM400_new	702 W/m²
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power) (assumption)	1150 W/m²