adaptation luminance
From Glossary of Meteorology
(Or adaptation brightness;
also called adaptation level, adaptation illuminance, brightness level, field brightness, field luminance.) The average luminance (or brightness) of those objects and surfaces in the immediate vicinity of an observer estimating the visual range.
The adaptation luminance has a marked influence on an observer's estimate of the visual range because, along with the visual angle of the object under observation, it determines the observer's threshold contrast. High adaptation luminance tends to produce a high threshold contrast, thus reducing the estimated visual range. This effect of the adaptation luminance is to be distinguished from the influence of background luminance.
