Present and future relations between ENSO and winter synoptic temperature variability over the Asian-Pacific-American region simulated by CMIP5/6

In this study, the relationship between ENSO and winter synoptic temperature variability (STV) over the Asian-Pacific-American region is examined in 26 CMIP5/6 model outputs. Compared to observations, most models fail to simulate the correct ENSO-STV relationship in historical simulations. To investigate the possible bias in the ENSO-STV simulations, two possible processes for the connection between ENSO and winter STV are examined in high pattern score (HPS) models and low pattern score (LPS) models, respectively. On the one hand, both HPS and LPS models can overall reproduce a reasonable relationship between STV and the mean-flow conditions supporting extratropical eddy development. On the other hand, only HPS models can well capture the relationship between ENSO and the development of extratropical eddies, while LPS models fail to simulate this feature, indicating that the bias in the simulated ENSO-STV relationship among CMIP5/6 models can be traced back to ENSO simulation. Furthermore, the bias of the ENSO simulation is characterized by an unreasonable SST pattern bias, with an excessive westward extension of warm SST anomalies over the western Pacific and weak warm SST anomalies over the equatorial central-eastern Pacific, resulting in the underestimation of the zonal SST anomaly gradient among models. Therefore, the ENSO pattern bias induces an unrealistic circulation and temperature gradient over the Asian-Pacific-American region, affecting the simulations of the ENSO-STV connection. In addition, the ENSO-STV relationship over the Asian-Pacific-American region is still robust in future projections based on HPS models, providing implications for the selection of future climate predictors.

Interdecadal shift of the relationship between ENSO and winter synoptic temperature variability over the Asian–Pacific–American region in the 1980s

In this study, the interdecadal variability of the relationship between ENSO and winter synoptic temperature variability (STV) over the Asian-Pacific-American region is investigated based on observational data from 1951 to 2018. An interdecadal shift in the ENSO-STV relationship occurred in the 1980s over Eastern China, changing from significant in Period 1 (P1, 1951-1987) to insignificant in Period 2 (P2, 1988-2018). But the ENSO-STV relationship is significantly stable over North America for the whole period. In addition, a possible reason for this interdecadal shift in the ENSO-STV relationship over Eastern China is also investigated. During P1, the ENSO pattern is significantly correlated to the temperature gradient over Northeast Asia, which is the key region influencing the intensification of extratropical eddies. The intensification of extratropical eddies over Northeast Asia is directly associated with the magnitude of STV over Eastern China. But in P2, the ENSO pattern is not related to the temperature over Northeast Asia. Therefore, the change in the ENSO pattern from P1 to P2 contributes to the interdecadal shift in the ENSO-STV relationship in the 1980s over Eastern China by influencing the temperature gradient over Northeast Asia, while ENSO can influence the temperature gradient over North America for the whole period. Furthermore, the possible role of the ENSO patterns in P1 and P2 is also examined by using an atmospheric general circulation model, highlighting that the pattern of SST variation is a determining factor in regulating STV in different regions.

Garment Workers

Launched in 1995 with the discovery of more than seventy enslaved Thai workers in a suburban apartment complex surrounded by barbed wire fence, the movement to end garment sweatshops—led by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center—pioneered the integration of strategic litigation and worker organizing to challenge inequality in Los Angeles. The sweatshop regime was built upon a legal foundation of subcontracting, which insulated retailers and manufacturers from the contractors actually producing clothing. At its most ambitious, the campaign sought to make legal responsibility follow economic power, rupturing the fiction that protected retailers and manufacturers from labor abuses such as those uncovered in the Thai worker case. Chapter 2 shows how lawyers built a powerful alliance with labor and grassroots organizers, won important legal victories in court, and achieved passage of a landmark state law creating manufacturer liability for contract labor violations. It then traces the campaign through the fierce battle against retailer Forever 21, which showed the power of industry countermobilization and ultimately marked the end of the litigation campaign. This outcome underscored a central lesson of legal mobilization in the new economy: Individual enforcement and litigation strategies, even when paired with innovative organizing and media campaigns, faced long odds challenging abuse enabled by extensive contracting and—crucially—the threat of global outsourcing. However, in fusing law and organizing, the anti-sweatshop campaign marked a new beginning in the movement against low-wage work—one that would deploy the tools honed in the garment manufacturing context to target Los Angeles’s immobile service industries.

Asian American Studies and the Fight for Worker Justice

This essay explores higher education–labor partnerships in the contemporary era between Asian American Studies (AAS), the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), and AAS community partnerships. With the intensified attacks on workers, unions, and Asian American, Pacific Islander, and other communities of color, the importance of higher education and labor and community partnerships will be a valuable resource to expand critical research and participatory education. These partnerships embody the community studies’ roots of AAS. Using three case studies, this essay highlights these partnerships and concludes with a discussion of the opportunities and challenges students can experience when working in labor union spaces and recommendations for building university-labor partnerships.