diff --git a/components/mpas-ocean/src/shared/mpas_ocn_vmix_cvmix.F b/components/mpas-ocean/src/shared/mpas_ocn_vmix_cvmix.F
index ef30deae3855..608bc99b6e48 100644
--- a/components/mpas-ocean/src/shared/mpas_ocn_vmix_cvmix.F
+++ b/components/mpas-ocean/src/shared/mpas_ocn_vmix_cvmix.F
@@ -786,6 +786,7 @@ subroutine ocn_vmix_coefs_cvmix_build(meshPool, statePool, forcingPool, err, tim
          !$omp parallel
          !$omp do schedule(runtime) private(nEdges, areaSum, edgeCount, iEdge, iNeighbor)
          do iCell=1,nCells
+            if (maxLevelCell(iCell) == 0) cycle
             nEdges = nEdgesOnCell(iCell)
             boundaryLayerDepthSmooth(iCell) = 0.0_RKIND
             areaSum = 0.0_RKIND