Major differences between wind speeds from atmospheric pressure maps (Na wind) and near­surface wind speeds derived from satellite scatterometer (NSCAT) observations over the East (Japan) Sea have been examined. The root­mean­square errors of Na wind and NSCAT wind speeds collocated with Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) buoy winds are about $3.84;ms^{-1};and;1.53;ms^{-1}$, respectively. Time series of NSCAT wind speeds showed a high coherency of 0.92 with the real buoy measurements and contained higher spectral energy at low frequencies (>3 days) than the Na wind. The magnitudes of monthly Na winds are lower than NSCAT winds by up to 45%, particularly in September 1996. The spatial structures between the two are mostly coherent on basin­wide large scales； however, significant differences and energy loss are found on a spatial scale of less than 100 km. This was evidenced by the temporal EOFs (Empirical Orthogonal Functions) of the two wind speed data sets and by their two­dimensional spectra. Since the Na wind was based on the atmospheric pressures on the weather map, it overlooked small­scale features of less than 100 km. The center of the cold­air outbreak through Vladivostok, expressed by the Na wind in January 1997, was shifted towards the North Korean coast when compared with that of the NSCAT wind, whereas NSCAT winds revealed its temporal evolution as well as spatial distribution.