Abstract. For the first time in spring 1999 the ground-based UV-visible zenith-sky measurements of stratospheric gases were performed at Environment Canada's Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Observatory (ASTRO) located at Eureka, Nunavut, Canada (80.05° N, 86.42° W, 610 m a.s.l.). The University of Toronto UV-visible ground-based spectrometer (UT-GBS) has been deployed for nine years afterwards at Eureka to measure ozone and NO₂ total columns by using sunlight scattered from the zenith sky during spring, when the conditions leading to polar ozone depletion develop. During spring 2000, elevated OClO slant column densities were also measured for the first time. First dedicated analysis of UT-GBS measurements applying two independent differential optical absorption spectroscopy algorithms was performed on spectra recorded during spring 2000. The resulting ozone and NO₂ total columns agreed to 4% and 5% or better, respectively. Also, first four years of UT-GBS results (1999–2003) were compared with those made by ozonesondes and by the Meteorogical Service of Canada Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (MSC FTS) at ASTRO, which has been operated by Canada's Department of Environment for measuring the total columns of several stratospheric gases. The comparison of UT-GBS and MSC FTS ozone total columns proved to be better than 5% for the periods when both instruments were viewing similar air masses.