The water vapor self-continuum absorption at room temperature in the 1.25 µm window

•First water self-continuum absorption cross-sections derived at room temperature between 8290 and 8620 cm−1.•Good agreement with the MT_CKD model of water vapor self-continuum used in atmospheric radiative transfer codes.•Bound water dimers are tentatively proposed to explain an additional absorption feature observed near 8455 cm−1.