With our ocean-chilled coastline being alone in the U.S. in having a cool spring this year, at least first-hand impressions are on the side of local climate-change doubters. Where, oh where is our global warming? might turn into a popular North Coast refrain.

But while our temperatures temporarily defy scientific expectations, our ocean chemistry is telling a more disturbing story. A study published last week from Oregon State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proves that ocean acidification is partly to blame for a mass die-off by tiny newborn oysters.

The ocean serves as a gigantic storage sink for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, absorbing a significant percentage of the greenhouse gas we emit by burning fossil fuels. The gas reacts with other components of seawater, tipping the ocean ever so slightly in the direction of acidity. Its a subtle chemical change, nowhere near strong enough to dissolve the shells of mature oysters and clams. But it is enough to stop sand-grain-sized oysters dead in their tracks before they can make shells.

The OSU/NOAA study focuses on the Whiskey Creek Hatchery west of Tillamook, owned by former Nahcotta, Wash., residents Mark Wiegardt and Sue Cudd. The Pacific Northwests huge oyster industry the biggest in the U.S. used to be able to rely on natural oyster reproduction to restock beds from one year to the next. But after years of failure of the natural oyster larvae, or seed, commercial growers now are highly dependent on hatchery-grown seed. Without it, our coasts $110 million-a-year oyster business would collapse.

Thanks to the research, one of the participating scientists said, Its now an incontrovertible fact that ocean chemistry is affecting our larvae. This is not just some lab experiment. This is real ocean water from today, not from some predicted future impacting shell formation. Its a pretty important finding.

Whiskey Creek has been able to cope so far by carefully timing when it draws in seawater and by adding calcium carbonate when the oyster larvae need it for shell formation. But the oceans chemistry is expected to become increasingly out of adjustment. Its anybodys guess whether scientists and shellfish growers will manage to stay ahead of the crisis.

Earths atmosphere and oceans are all interconnected. East of our misty coastline, the rest of the continental U.S. just had a March that was 8.6 degrees above the 20th century average. Such heat waves and worrying changes in our ocean chemistry may not mean much individually. But added together, these are warning signs we disregard to our peril.