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The response of the ozone column across Europe to the extreme 2020 Arctic ozone depletion was examined by analyzing ground‐based observations at 38 European stations. The ozone decrease at the northernmost site, Ny‐Ålesund (79°N) was about 43% with respect to a climatology of more than 30 years. The magnitude of the decrease declined by about 0.7% deg−1 moving south to reach nearly 15% at 40°N. In addition, it was found that the variations of the ozone column at each of the selected stations in March‐May were similar to those observed at Ny‐Ålesund but with a delay increasing to about 20 days at mid‐latitudes with a gradient of approximately 0.5 days deg−1. The distributions of reconstructed ozone column anomalies over a sector covering a large European area show decreasing ozone that started from the north at the beginning of April 2020 and spread south. Such behavior was shown to be similar to that observed after the Arctic ozone depletion in 2011. Stratospheric dynamical patterns in March–May 2011 and during 2020 suggested that the migration of ozone‐poor air masses from polar areas to the south after the vortex breakup caused the observed ozone responses. A brief survey of the ozone mass mixing ratios at three stratospheric levels showed the exceptional strength of the 2020 episode. Despite the stronger and longer‐lasting Arctic ozone loss in 2020, the analysis in this work indicates a similar ozone response at latitudes below 50°N to both 2011 and 2020 phenomena.

Statistical studies allow probability statements about the frequency of certain events. The occurrence of magnetic substorms and their activity have been described with the help of extreme value distributions in the last few decades using the auroral electrojet indices AE, AL and AU. In this work we examined the distribution of the IL index, derived from observations at stations of the IMAGE magnetometer network. The distributions of magnetic disturbances, based on IL, were studied separately in the morning (3–9 MLT), day (9–15 MLT), evening (15–21 MLT), and night (21–3 MLT) sectors. In addition, we used the values of the IL index calculated from the meridional chains in the auroral zone (PPN-SOR) and from the chain of stations at high latitudes (BJN-NAL). The histograms, the empirical cumulative distributions and the occurrence rates were computed. It was shown that the empirical distributions could be well approximated with exponential distributions. The distribution parameters were determined from the occurrence rates. Three classes were discovered, which differ significantly by the respective distribution parameters. Structural changes in the distributions were found in the morning sector at both auroral and high latitudes. The relationship between the occurrence rate of magnetic disturbances with IL < −1000 nT and the frequency of occurrence of geomagnetic induced currents was highlighted.