An intensive water vapour intercomparison effort, involving airborne and ground-based water vapour lidar systems, was carried out in the framework of the COPS experiment. The main objective of this paper is to provide accurate error estimates for these systems. Comparisons between the ground-based Raman lidar BASIL and the airborne CNRS DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar) indicate a mean relative bias between the two sensors, calculated with respect to the mean value of -2.13% (-0.034 g kg-1) in the altitude region 0.5-3.5 km, while comparisons between BASIL and the airborne DLR DIAL lead to a mean relative bias of 1.87% (0.018 g kg-1) in this same altitude region. Comparisons between the ground-based UHOH DIAL and the CNRS DIAL indicate a bias of -3.2% (-0.37 × 1022 m-3) in the altitude range 1.5-4.5 km, while comparisons between the UHOH DIAL and the DLR DIAL indicate a bias of 0.83% (0.06 × 1022 m-3) in this same altitude range. Based on the available comparisons between the ground-based Raman lidar BERTHA and the CNRS DIAL, the mean relative bias is found to be -4.37% (-0.123 g kg-1) in the altitude region 0.5-4.5 km. Comparisons between the ground-based IGN Raman lidar and the CNRS DIAL indicate a bias of 3.18% (0.55 g kg-1) in the altitude range from 0.5 to 4.5 km, while comparisons between the CNRS DIAL and DLR DIAL result in a mean relative bias of 3.93% (1.1 × 1022 m-3) in the altitude interval 0.5-4.0 km. Based on the available statistics of comparisons, benefiting from the fact that the CNRS DIAL was able to be compared with all other lidar systems, and putting equal weight on the data reliability of each instrument, overall relative values for BASIL, BERTHA, IGN Raman lidar, UHOH DIAL, DLR DIAL, and CNRS DIAL, with respect to the mean value, are found to be -0.38, -2.60, 4.90, -1.43, -2.23 and 1.72%, respectively. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society.

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