Stirrings in the Hadal Deep

Angela Posada-Swafford

Click, tic, click, chitin plates rustle below
in darkest cold, too far from the glow.
One by one, they drift in line
a scarlet queue, all spined and fine
A taint of warmth now begins to glide
a sluggish shift in deepest tide.
Faintly felt in limb and core,
no amphipod has known such heat before
The living filament becomes unchained
the pressure hums, but not the same:
for change has come, they know, they know
even at 8,000 meters low
Deep in trench mounting fear goes afire,
And fshh, wshhh, the strand goes haywire.
A thousand eyes, no light to see,
yet every feeler whispers flee!

The Science

Amphipods are crustaceans living on the ocean floor of the hadal ecosystem, that is, at depths of 6,000 to 11,000 meters. They resemble shrimp, but can be a lot larger. They are scavengers, eating the food that falls from the upper ocean. They are a key link in the nutrient cycle, and survive the extreme pressure that limits other species.

Even though the deep trenches are far away from the ocean surface, research indicates global warming impacts are reaching the hadal zone through ocean circulation, with the deep ocean storing roughly 10% of heat from the climate energy imbalance. While heat pollution in surface water is rapid, hadal zones face slower, long-term temperature rises and chemical changes. Recent studies rely on advanced, specialized technology like the Orpheus Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) to monitor these remote areas.

The Poet

Angela Posada-Swafford is an MIT-trained science writer and researcher who often accompanies researchers on oceanographic expeditions. She conceived the idea for this poem on the first crewed expedition to the Atacama Trench, in January 2022, where she first saw the giant red amphipods on the 8,000-meter-deep seafloor.

Next poem: Summer Bandshell by Christa Fairbrother