Water line positions in the 782-840 nm region

•Cavity ring-down spectra of H216O, HD16O, and D216O lines in the 782-840 nm region were measured.•Absolute line positions of 80 water lines were determined with an accuracy of about 5 MHz.•The H216O positions given in HITRAN have a systematic shift of 0.001 cm−1 in the 796-840 nm region.•MARVEL D216O energies have a systematic deviation of about −0.008 cm−1.

A set of water transitions in the 782-840 nm region, including 38 H216O lines, 12 HD16O lines, and 30 D216O lines, were recorded with a cavity ring-down spectrometer calibrated using precise atomic lines. Absolute frequencies of the lines were determined with an accuracy of about 5 MHz. Systematic shifts were found in the line positions given in the HITRAN database and the upper energy levels given in recent MARVEL studies.