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Among the different techniques available for measuring the atmospheric water vapor content, Raman lidars stand out as accurate instruments providing detailed profiles with high temporal and altitude resolution. Their principle is based on obtaining the range-resolved ratio of the lidar signals corresponding to Raman returns from water vapor and nitrogen molecules, which is proportional to the water vapor mixing ratio. To do this, it is necessary to determine a calibration factor, specific of each lidar instrument. A method for obtaining this parameter, based on zenith measurements of diffuse sunlight, on Raman scattering models and on simulations, using a radiative transfer model, to estimate sky radiances at the wavelengths of interest, has been applied to the lidar system of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC; Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain). A set of calibrations, performed between 2016 and 2017, has permitted assessing the calibration procedure and analyzing the stability of the calibration factor in the UPC instrument. Results show that although the calibration factor can remain stable for long periods of time, it can suffer sudden variations that make indispensable to implement a convenient and reliable procedure to perform regular calibrations. We show that the method, which can be applied to any lidar with water vapor and nitrogen Raman channels, can completely dispense with radiosonde data. The calibration method is validated by comparison with simultaneous radiosonde water vapor measurements. Limitations of radiosondes for validating--and eventually calibrating--water vapor Raman lidars have been revealed.

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