There’s one big, yellow bobber floating around the ocean off the coast of Oregon. Oregon State University researchers sure would like to hook up with it again. They’re asking fishermen and beachcombers from Newport to Coos Bay to help them.

“What you’d see is about a foot of it sticking above the water and it is yellow,” said Jack Barth, an OSU oceanography professor.

Really, it’s more than just a yellow bobber. OSU scientists are partnering with WET Labs to study changes in the ocean due to the wind. They analyze information on upwelling and downwelling, and monitor formation of plankton blooms.

“It’s pretty handy, if we can just get it working,” Barth said.

The science team placed the moored profiling oceanographic instrument in the water off Newport slightly more than a week ago. The system moves up and down like a winch, cycling from surface to seafloor and back again. Then came Friday’s rough seas. Storm-fueled waves ripped and tore at the device until the tether line snapped.

Researchers had outfitted the little buoy with radio gear and an antennae sporting a flappy orange-flag, which likely broke off.

“We had perfect line on it and couldn’t cross the bar in Newport, by the time we could the beacon had failed,” he said.

Barth’s best guess is it’s between Florence and Coos Bay.

Commercial halibut fishermen rushing out for the one-day opening today might come across it. The equipment also might wash up on a beach.

“If it’s found at sea or on the beach, if  they could just grab it and give us a ring,” he said.

It’s not a tiny gadget you’d pop into your pocket. The  5-foot-long instrument weighs a couple hundred pounds and cost about $100,000. Should you find it on a beach, Barth said it’s best to drag it up higher on the beach and call him.