The remarkable structure of noctilucent clouds (NLC) has attracted researchers since more than 130 years. The structures have even been used to deduce the altitude of the clouds, that is about 83 km where the atmosphere pressure is about 5 orders of magnitude lower than at the earth surface. The clouds and their structures have been used as tracers for dynamical processes in a height region that is difficult to study with other methods. The structured appearance of NLC has been found to be closely linked to atmospheric waves and their transition to turbulence.

We make use of measurements of NLC with the ALOMAR RMR-lidar, located in Northern Norway at 69°N, that is detecting NLC with sub-second resolution. Although the particles in NLC are smaller than the wavelength of visible light, they can be measured by lidar when observing the clouds at different colors. In combination with ground and space based cameras the horizontal structure is investigated on scales from meters to hundreds of kilometers. We present recent results from lidar and camera that show the rich structure of NLC - as seen by the naked eye – which is caused by the peculiar nature of the clouds: At times the brightest part of NLC is limited to 100 m or less vertical extend, making the clouds a proxy for small scale atmosphere dynamics with a resolution superior to other layers in the mesosphere lower hermosphere region.