Code of the manuscript: Fronts sustain phytoplankton community dynamics in the Mediterranean Sea

Code of the manuscript: Fronts sustain phytoplankton community dynamics in the Mediterranean Sea, Occhipinti, G. et al. 2026 Description of the python scripts: Analysis: change_extension_nc.py: restrict netcdf file to the Mediterranean Sea extent compute_chl_clim.py: compute surface chlorophyll climatology from model outputs compute_chl_over_fronts.py: compute the chlorophyll averaged along latitude and along strong fronts, weak fronts, no fronts compute_fronts_frequency.py: compute the frequency of strong fronts, weak fronts, no fronts in each ecoregion compute_hi.py: compute the Hetereogeneity Index fom model sea temperature data compute_hi_mpi.py: paralelized version with mpi of the previous script compute_pft_clima_fronts.py: compute climatological average of each plankton functional type (PFT) in each ecoregion and along strong fronts, weak fronts, no fronts compute_pft_increments.py: compute the percentual increments of each PFT in fronts with respect to no fronts, subdivided in ecoregions and seasons compute_pft_longitudinal.py: compute each PFT chlorophyll averaged along latitude and along strong fronts, weak fronts, no fronts Plotting: fronts_over_regions.py: plot the frequency of fronts in each ecoregion plot_chl_fronts_longitudinal.py: plot the longitudinal distribution of chlorophyll concentration along fronts plot_front_detection.py: plot of the methodology of front detection plot_fronts_freq.py: plot front frequency and climatological mean chlorophyll on a map of the Mediterranean Sea plot_pft_clima_fronts.py: plot the climatological year PFT chlorophyll subdivided in ecoregions and fronts plot_pft_longitudinal.py: plot the longitudinal distribution of PFT chlorophyll concentration plot_relative_pft.py: plot the relative concentration of PFTs subdivided in ecoregions and frons plot_table.py: plot tables showing the percentual increments of PFT and nutrients subdivided in fronts and seasons The conda environment used in the analysis is stored in environment_hiindex.yml Example figure of the identification of fronts, weak fronts are identified in yellow, strong fronts in red. The last box is a confront with fronts identified by thermal gradients from satellites (Sudre, F. et al. 2023)