Across the Department of Defense (DOD), modeling and simulation (M&S) requires readily-accessible, rapidly-generated, multi-domain (atmosphere, ocean, space, and terrain) environmental representations and products. To ensure the nature and scope of these requirements are understood, the M&SCO, in conjunction with the M&S Executive Agents for Air & Space Natural Environment, Ocean, and Terrain, is coordinating a cross-cutting assessment of M&S environmental representation requirements throughout DOD. In addition to characterizing natural environment representation requirements for M&S, this assessment will identify critical capability gaps related to environmental representation and provide recommendations for the DOD M&S Enterprise Data Strategy.

The "Big E" study, as it has become known, will result in a report outlining an initial set of capability requirements and gaps. These results, and the techniques utilized to gather the information, will provide a launch point for the process of collecting and analyzing future environmental data requirements as a component of the DOD M&S Data Enterprise. In addition, the assessment will outline a set of capability gap "Themes", meant to be utilized within the requirements collection process as a common language for articulating gaps in capability with respect to representation of the natural environment in M&S.