Dr. Rasmusson recognized the importance of analysis and General Circulation model forecasts in the early 1980's. Under his leadership, the Climate Diagnostics Data Base was established. The CPC started the monthly and seasonal climate monitoring. From the climate monitoring and data archive, he encouraged people to document the climate variability, examine the physical mechanisms of climate anomalies. These studies enhanced our understanding of the climate phenomena including but not limited to ENSO and improve monitoring.

He continued to exploit the possibility to monitor regional climate using meso scale models. To bridge the gap between hydrology and meteorology, he began the studies of regional model outputs. Later, with the regional reanalysis and the NLDAS, we are able to understand the land-atmosphere processes better. Recently, we at the CPC began the monitoring of the water resources based on the regional analysis and land data assimilation.

With the improvement of model and analysis and his encouragement, he mentored the studies of the North American monsoon system. He planed the seeds for later North American monsoon experiment in 2004.