Total ozone fields over Northern Europe and Arctic regions were calculated during the winter 1989 using the TOVS/HIRS2 infra‐red radiances. During that same period ground‐based and airborne ozone and PSCs measurements were performed as part of the AASE and TECHNOPS campaigns. Comparisons have also been made with the TOMS ozone data. They show a generally good agreement, except above northernmost regions where TOMS observations seem affected by the high solar zenith angles encountered near the polar night region. This result is confirmed by the ozone measurements made from Kiruna on the 23 and 30 of January. A major type II PSC event is clearly identified in the TOVS ozone field on January 31. The cloud location is consistent with airborne lidar soundings made on the same day from DC‐8 aircraft, which measured scattering and depolarization ratios characteristic of high concentration of large ice crystals. TOVS observations show that type II PSCs covering large areas may form above the Arctic regions. However, only two major water‐ice PSCs events have been identified from January 3 to February 10. These events may not be frequent enough for the polar air to reach a completely processed state, with high ClO amounts and significant denitrification as it is observed in the Antarctic early