WELCOME

Dragi sudionici Ocean Optics kongresa,
dobrodošli u Dubrovnik!

We, the co-chairs and the members of the planning committee, welcome you to the Ocean Optics XXIV conference. We are delighted and excited to have you here, in the beautiful city of Dubrovnik on the coast of the Adriatic Sea (Case I waters side). Over the past two years, we have worked hard to build this agenda which encompasses oral and poster sessions, town halls, and short courses. The program is highly diverse, and for next five days you will hear the best of what our field has produced over the last two years; the basic and applied research in in-water optics and ocean color from different continents. As always, we strive to support our early career colleagues and give them a platform to present their work, and welcome them into this big, happy ocean optics family.

We hope you will enjoy the conference and your stay in Dubrovnik, and that you will make new discoveries, encounter new colleagues, and make new friends. During the week, we have planned a few social events for you—starting with the icebreaker reception at the Valamar Lacroma Hotel on Sunday, followed by an art exhibition at the Dubrovnik Aquarium on Tuesday. We’ll gather for the awards banquet on Thursday evening in the Elafiti Conference Hall, where we’ll enjoy a local cultural presentation followed by the awards ceremony. After that, we look forward to seeing all your dance moves fueled by good food, good music, and good wine.

On a final note, we would like to thank The Oceanography Society (TOS) and especially Jenny Ramarui for the amazing support they keep on giving to this conference. We would also like to thank our sponsors and exhibitors, without whom this conference would not be possible. And of course, we would like to express our appreciation for all of you—the participants—who make the Ocean Optics Conference a one-of-a-kind experience.

In the words of Marin Držić, Dubrovnik Renaissance playwright and prose writer poet, from his play Tirena:

Tko doma ne sidi i ne haje truda, po svijetu taj vidi i nauči svih čuda.
(One who doesn’t sit at home and doesn’t mind some trouble, sees and learns about the miracles of the world).

We hope that this conference and your visit to Dubrovnik will be full of miracles.