InordertoquantitativelyevaluatethespuriousdianeutralmixinginaglobaloceanmodelMPAS-Ocean(ModelforPredictionAcrossScales)usingasphericalcentroidalvoronoitessellationsdevelopedjointlybytheNationalCenterforAtmosphericResearchandtheLosAlamosNationalLaboratoryintheUnitedStates,wechoosez*verticalcoordinatesysteminMPAS-Ocean,inwhichallphysicalmixingprocesses,suchasconvectionadjustmentandexplicitdiffusionparameterschemes,areomitted,usingalinearequationofstate.BycalculatingtheReferencePotentialEnergy(RPE),frontrevolutionposition,timerateofRPEchange,probabilitydensityfunctiondistributionanddimensionlessparameterχ,fromtheperspectivesofresolution,viscosity,HorizontalGridReynoldsNumber(HGRN),Re?,andmomentumtransmissionscheme,usingtwoidealcases,overflowandbarocliniceddychannel,wequalitativelyanalyzethesimulationresultsbycomparisonwiththethreenon-isopycnalmodelsinIlicaketal.(2012),i.e.,MITGCM,MOM,andROMS.TheresultsshowthatthespuriousdianeutralmixingintheMPAS-Oceanincreasesovertime.ThespuriousdianeutraltransportisproportionaltotheHGRNdirectlyandisreducedbyincreasingthelateralviscosityorusingafinerresolutiontocontrolHGRN.WhentheHGRNislessthan10,spurioustransportisreducedsignificantly.Whenusingtheproperviscosityclosure,MPAS-OceanperformsbetterthanMITGCMandMOM,closelytoROMS,inthe2Dcasewithoutrotation,andmuchbetterthantheabove-mentionedthreeoceanmodelsundertheconditionof3Dspacewithrotationduetothecellareadifferencebetweenthehexagoncellandthequadrilateralcellwiththesameresolution.BoththeZalesak(1979)fluxcorrectedtransportschemeandLeithclosureinMPAS-Oceanplayanexcellentroleinreducingspuriousdianeutralmixing.TheperformanceofLeithschemeispreferabletotheconditionofthree-dimensionalbarocliniceddy.
