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Conversion - PPFD to Foot-candles

PPFD (µmol m-2 s-1) to Foot-candles Foot-candles to PPFD (µmol m-2 s-1)

Conversion Calibration
Light Source Light Source
Factor Factor

Sunlight 5.01 Sunlight 0.200

Cool White Fluorescent Lamps 6.87 Cool White Fluorescent Lamps 0.146

Mogul Base High Pressure Sodium Lamps 7.62 Mogul Base High Pressure Sodium Lamps 0.131

Dual-Ended High Pressure Sodium (DEHPS): ePapillion 1000 W 7.11 Dual-Ended High Pressure Sodium (DEHPS): ePapillion 1000 W 0.141

Metal Halide 6.60 Metal Halide 0.152

Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH942): standard 4200 K color temperature 6.01 Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH942): standard 4200 K color temperature 0.167

Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH930-Agro): 3100 K color temperature, spectrum Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH930-Agro): 3100 K color temperature, spectrum
5.45 0.184
shifted to red wavelengths shifted to red wavelengths

Low Pressure Sodium Lamp (monochromatic at 589 nm) 9.85 Low Pressure Sodium Lamp (monochromatic at 589 nm) 0.102

Multiply the PPFD by the conversion factor to get foot-candles. For example, full sunlight is 2000 Multiply the foot-candles by the conversion factor to get PPFD. For example, full sunlight is 10,020
μmol m-2 s-1 or 10,020 foot-candles (2000 ∗ 5.01). foot-candles or 2000 μmol m-2 s-1 (10,020 ∗ 0.2).

PPFD to Foot-candle Reference Table

Sunlight Cool White Fluorescent

If PPFD is: then, fc is: If PPFD is: then; fc is:

10 50.1 10 68.7

100 501 100 687

200 1002 200 1374

300 1503 300 2061

600 3006 600 4122

1000 5010 1000 6870

*2000 *10,020 2000 13,740

*Full sunlight at solar noon or on a clear summer day.

De nitions

Photometric Units, Illuminance

Foot-candle: one lumen per square foot. The 16th General Conference on Weights an Measures (CGPM), Oct. 1979, decided that the candela is the luminous intensity of a source emitting monochromatic
radiation of frequency 540 x 1012 Hz and radiant intensity 1/683 watt per steradian. This corresponds to 683 lumens per watt of radiation at approximately 555 nm wavelength, which is near the maximum
of the standard photopic spectral luminous e ciency curve.

LUX: one lumen per square meter; differs from foot-candle by about a factor of 10.

Quantum Units, Photon Flux Density

Microeinstein: per second and square meter (µE m-2 s-1). The einstein has been used to represent the quantity of radiant energy in Avogadro's number of photons and also Avogadro's number of photons.
The second de nition has the einstein equal a mole of photons. While commonly used as a unit for photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), the einstein is not an SI unit.

Micromole: per second and square meter (µmol m-2 s-1). This term is based on the number of photons in a certain waveband incident per unit time (s) on a unit area (m2) divided by the Avogadro constant
(6.022 x 1023 mol-1). It is used commonly to describe PAR in the 400-700 nm waveband.

De nition Source: Thimijan, Richard W., and Royal D. Heins. 1982. Photometric, Radiometric, and Quantum Light Units of Measure: A Review of Procedures for Interconversion. HortScience 18:818-822.

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