How does Arthur C. Clarke use imagery in Rendezvous with Rama?

Clarke makes wide use of visual imagery in Chapter 17, as Norton and his sleeping party members are awakened by incredibly loud noises. The noises are felt as if the whole of Rama was suddenly ripped opened. The sounds came in waves of monstrous cracking noises followed by series of crystalline crashes. The cameras and light beams aimed at the Cylindrical Sea relayed the images of icebergs crashing violently onto each other. The Cylindrical Sea was thawing from the bottom up, creating an unexpected and quite unusual phenomenon. The explorers are ordered to retreat to the safety of Endeavour and they start to ascend the northern hemisphere along the stairway leading to the air locks, eight kilometers above. Norton, who is the last individual to ascend the stairway to the air locks, was near the end of his journey when he is suddenly blinded by a light so bright that he has to close his eyes and keep them shut for more than a minute.