Scientists say the ozone layer is slowly recovering

You can call it a comeback: The ozone layer is slowly recovering, scientists say, with a significant increase in stratospheric ozone, which protects the planet from solar radiation.

A United Nations scientific panel found that between 2000 and 2013, ozone levels went up 4 percent in mid-northern latitudes at 30 miles up. In the 1980s, scientists issued a dire warning about CFCs, man-made chemicals found in aerosol cans and refrigerants that released chlorine and bromine into the air, destroying ozone. In 1987, countries agreed to a treaty that phased CFCs out. "It's a victory for diplomacy and for science and for the fact that we were able to work together," Mario Molina, a chemist who co-wrote a 1974 study forecasting ozone depletion, told The Associated Press.

"More than 98 percent of ozone-depleting substances agreed over time have actually been phased out," says Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program. If that hadn't happen, "we would be seeing a very substantial global ozone depletion today."

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It's not all good news, though. MIT atmospheric scientist Susan Solomon told AP the chemicals that replaced CFCs contribute to global warming and are expected to increase significantly by 2050.