Editors note: Click the photo to download high-resolution time-lapse video
The Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay conducts a backing and ramming evolution as it attempts to get into Ashtabula, Ohio, for fuel and other supplies Feb. 18, 2015.
The goal in backing and ramming is to create a wide path in the ice so the ice has somewhere to go and doesn't create a larger problem with the creation of brash ice, an accumulation of floating ice made up of fragments.
U.S. Coast Guard video by Lt. Cmdr. John Henry.
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay heads home to Detroit from Cleveland following a previously-cut track through the ice, Feb. 21, 2015.
The ability to follow a clear path through Lake Erie has been a rare opportunity since Lake Erie is more than 95 percent iced over.
U.S. Coast Guard video by Lt. Cmdr. John Henry.