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	( 0.34 ; 0.33 )	( 0.27 ; 0.38 )	( 0.25 ; 0.2 ; 0.28 )
CCT	5100 Kelvin	9300 Kelvin	6500 Kelvin
distance		0.04	0.062
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)	33500 µW/cm² = 335 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)	33400 µW/cm² = 334 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	147 µW/cm² = 1.47 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	187 µW/cm² = 1.87 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	3230 µW/cm² = 32.3 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	147 µW/cm² = 1.47 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	232 µW/cm² = 2.32 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	3080 µW/cm² = 30.8 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	284 µW/cm² = 2.84 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	3040 µW/cm² = 30.4 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	2850 µW/cm² = 28.5 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	4330 µW/cm² = 43.3 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	2460 µW/cm² = 24.6 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	21400 µW/cm² = 214 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	26800 µW/cm² = 268 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	3770 µW/cm² = 37.7 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	26200 µW/cm² = 262 W/m²
VIS2 ( 400 nm - 680 nm)	21800 µW/cm² = 218 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	22800 µW/cm² = 228 W/m²
tmp ( 400 nm - 1100 nm)	28700 µW/cm² = 287 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	5810 µW/cm² = 58.1 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	6050 µW/cm² = 60.5 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	864 µW/cm² = 8.64 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	5480 µW/cm² = 54.8 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	4230 µW/cm² = 42.3 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	5920 µW/cm² = 59.2 W/m²
IR2 ( 720 nm - 1100 nm)	5430 µW/cm² = 54.3 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	14.6 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	79.2 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	21.5 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	0.71 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	2.58
Vitamin D3	50.2 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	15900 µW/cm²
Luminosity	64100 lx
Human L-Cone	9690 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	7730 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	5030 µW/cm²
CIE X	9150 µW/cm²
CIE Y	8870 µW/cm²
CIE Z	8780 µW/cm²
PAR	107000000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	254 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	924 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	133000 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	81.5 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	1350000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	101 m²/mol
L-Cone	8320 µW/cm²
M-Cone	6660 µW/cm²
S-Cone	9300 µW/cm²
U-Cone	8840 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	14.9 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	6990 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	6230 µW/cm² (97.2 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	53.2 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	73300 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	40.8 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	14.7 µW/cm² (2.29 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	103000 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	123000 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	20500 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	238 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	14.6
Leybold UVB	165 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	2330 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0.0675 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	364 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	42.9 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	67.8 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	1350 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	2530 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	99.6 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	-0.066 µW/cm²
Luxmeter	65200 lx
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	45.6 IU/min
UVX-31	508 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.11 µW/cm²
IL UVA	2840 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	10.6 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	138 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 13)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	118 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	6.86 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power) (manuf.)	354 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	47.5 mW/cm²
LS122 (manuf.)	9.38 W/m²
ISM400 (first guess)	289 W/m²
LS122 (assumption)	17.7 W/m²
ISM400_new	270 W/m²
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power) (assumption)	337 W/m²