(Newser) – Here's a rare bit of good environmental news: The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, cause célèbre of the '90s, is smaller than it's been for the past 5 years, MSNBC reports. The latest data fit with a pattern of reduction over the last few years that suggest international curbs on the use of chlorofluorocarbons are making a difference.

"We can't definitively say the ozone hole is improving from one new year of observations," says a scientist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand. "However, we have now had a few years in succession with less severe holes. That is an indication we may be beginning to see a recovery."