Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) are greenhouse gases with atmospheric lifetimes of more than 1000 years. They are powerful greenhouse gases and today's emissions will still be affecting earth's climate in the next millennium.
Increases in these greenhouse gases are almost entirely a result of man's activity. Man's use of fluorites has given rise to significant emissions of both PFCs and SF6 in recent years. The only known sinks for these greenhouse gases are light destruction (photolysis) or ion reactions in our mesosphere.
A new and worrying development has been the discovery of a hybrid greenhouse gas derived from PFCs and SF6 (SF5CF3), which is the most powerful greenhouse gas yet discovered and whose concentration is rising rapidly.