Our skies are too grey: Where is the colour?

The Daylight Illuminant D65, a standardised reference light source in design and research with a colour temperature of 6500 K, is often used to describe the colour of the daylight. However, it represents the colour of an overcast sky, failing to capture the variability and richness of actual daylight, particularly the blue of clear skies. Recent research shows that both sunlight and skylight significantly influence our mood, perception and physiological responses. The colour of daylight is influenced by factors like sun position, weather conditions, as well as geographical location. To address these variations, researchers are collecting worldwide spectral daylight measurements, emphasising the need for localised spectral reference data to appropriately represent daylight in different locations.

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Publication Details

Journal
Lighting Research & Technology
Published
2025-03-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/14771535251322618
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Color Science and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.49
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Our skies are too grey: Where is the colour?

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Our skies are too grey: Where is the colour?

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article en
2 citations

Abstract

The Daylight Illuminant D65, a standardised reference light source in design and research with a colour temperature of 6500 K, is often used to describe the colour of the daylight. However, it represents the colour of an overcast sky, failing to capture the variability and richness of actual daylight, particularly the blue of clear skies. Recent research shows that both sunlight and skylight significantly influence our mood, perception and physiological responses. The colour of daylight is influenced by factors like sun position, weather conditions, as well as geographical location. To address these variations, researchers are collecting worldwide spectral daylight measurements, emphasising the need for localised spectral reference data to appropriately represent daylight in different locations.

Lighting Research & TechnologyVol. 57(6-7)
University College Dublin (IE), Oregon State University (US), Bialystok University of Technology (PL), University of Ljubljana (SI), Chongqing University (CN), Universidad de Granada (ES), University of Washington (US), Beijing University of Technology (CN), Laboratoire de Tribologie et Dynamique des Systèmes (FR), China Academy of Building Research (CN), École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (FR), Technische Universität Berlin (DE), University of Naples Federico II (IT), UCLouvain (BE), Technical University of Denmark (DK)
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 13%
Color Science and Applications
2.49
DOISourceOpenAlex
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