There’s an occasional knocking in the Arctic, and the Canadian government wants to know who’s there.

A team of researchers is working on a $10 million project to put listening and visual laser tracking devices along a portion of the Northwest Passage, which Canada claims, to get a sense of who’s lurking in the rapidly warming waters, according to a report from The Canadian Press.

“We’re looking at surface shipping and any underwater vehicles that may be moving through the area,” Lt.-Cmdr. Bruce Grychkowski, project manager of Northern Watch, which plans to plant a series of surveillance devices deep underwater at a choke point along the passage on the Barrow Strait, told The Canadian Press.

The unmanned devices will send their information to a satellite overhead.

The warming water and melting of ice is resulting in a slight increase in ship traffic through the area. There were 62 ships through in 2008, compared to 54 four years earlier, according to the CP report.

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