A U.s. military airbase in Hawaii’s Hilo will close after a coral bleached island.
The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources said Thursday the Air Force Base at Hiko is closing for the next six months due to a coral problem that affects the island’s southern coast.
The closure is expected to affect more than a dozen military facilities, including the base at Fort Irwin in California, which is home to the U.N. mission in the Pacific.
The coral bleaches in Hiko have been linked to a major bleaching event at the base, which was recently upgraded from an operational level to a Marine Corps base.
