A remote sensing system of ground-based Fourier transform infrared spectrometer is developed, automatically recording solar near infrared absorption spectra on sunny day. The real-time whole atmospheric transmittance spectrum is obtained through the recorded single spectrum. Based on the optimization method, total column concentrations of water vapor in the atmosphere are retrieved from the transmittance spectra on the observation site between October 17, 2011 and March 6, 2013. Total column concentrations of water vapor, obtained by the ground-based remote sensing technology with high temporal resolution, are compared with the ones by solar radiometer. They agree very well with each other and the correlation coefficient is 92%. Total column concentrations of water vapor change a lot during a day in the measurement site area, and there is no obvious periodicity. The characteristics of diurnal variation are complex and associated with many factors. Owing to factors such as atmospheric circulation and seasonal variation of temperature, total column concentrations of water vapor show the characteristic of obvious seasonal cycle in the measurement site area, which is significantly higher in summer than in winter. These results are significant to the research and application of water vapor detection and analysis method.