Japanese seismometer may have new data on 2011 tsunami

WATCH: The bulbous, bright orange device may reveal more information about the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011.

An expensive piece of Japanese technology found along the shores of B.C.’s Haida Gwaii archipelago may provide academics with priceless information about the very earthquake that dislodged it from its sunken home.

The $200,000 device is called as a seismometer, and measures movement in the ground, including seismic waves.

The earthquake research institute at the University of Tokyo deployed it in 2010, tethering it to the ocean floor.

However, contact with the seismometer was lost after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Japan in March 2011.

With files from Peter Meiszner and Elaine Young