First glimpse of Takuu Atoll (Mortlock) in the South Pacific

Nukutoa, depicted in frame (C) (and regrettably misspelled in the sat images), will be my new home for the next 12 months. Takuu Atoll (or Mortlock) is located 270 km north-northeast of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. With a population of 500-600 people, the islanders' main food sources include fish, Taro (a root crop), bananas, coconuts and papayas. The population density of the atoll islands is roughly 500/km^2. Or in other words: crowded! (especially with regards to the resources available). There is no source of electricity nor fresh water, but the village does have cisterns to catch rainwater. During droughts, islanders' rely on coconut water to stay hydrated. The garden island (Takuu) and the settlement island (Nukutoa) cover a mere 90 hectares, and 23 hectares are devoted to 2 species of Taro. After the census of the mid 2000, the population density on just the taro gardens is an astonishing 1926 ppl/km^2 (Bourke and Betitis 2003). That is a extreme amount of pressure on the starchy resource, but, as mentioned above, this is also supplemented with a variety of fish species and coconuts. How long can people live on just coconuts and marine products? I'm no dietician, but that must cause immense nutritional deficits. How is a persons health affected by this in the long term? While people are quick to point the finger at the blanket terms such as "climate change",  the quantity of root crops in this 'agricultural community' may indeed be the limiting agent for locals to remain on Mortlock. However, one can't forget that salination from sea level rise is decreasing taro yields, thereby exacerbating the situation. There are heaps of interconnected processes going on, and I'm pretty stoked to be able to try and untangle some of it.
I'm heading to this "equatorial outlier" in April to gain an understanding of locals' perceptions and coping strategies on the "front lines" of climate change impacts.  Mortlock's complex socio- cultural, historical and ecological characteristics and values are just as intriguing as the ongoing speculations surrounding the extent of climate change's impacts globally as well as on the "atoll" scale.
-PS-Upcoming posts will be more lighthearted and spontaneous. Today was choice between a little background info or a full- on f**king rant about logistics and research problems. I chose the former- consider yourself spared. ;) Inconceivable: I'm too tired to even make smart ass comments. I'll make up for it later. Lukim yu!