Satellite data have an intrinsic problem due to a number of various physical parameters, which can have a similar effect on measured radiance. Most evaluations of satellite performance have relied on comparisons with limited spatial and temporal resolution of ground-based measurements such as soundings and in-situ measurements. In order to overcome this problem, a new way of satellite data evaluation is suggested with statistical tools such as empirical orthogonal function(EOF), and singular value decomposition(SVD). The EOF analyses with OMI and OMI HCHO over northeast Asia show that the spatial pattern show high correlation with population density. This suggests that human activity is a major source of as well as HCHO over this region. However, this analysis is contradictory to the previous finding with GOME HCHO that biogenic activity is the main driving mechanism(Fu et al., 2007). To verify the source of HCHO over this region, we performed the EOF analyses with vegetation and HCHO distribution. The results showed no coherence in the spatial and temporal pattern between two factors. Rather, the additional SVD analysis between $NO_2$ and HCHO shows consistency in spatial and temporal coherence. This outcome suggests that the anthropogenic emission is the main source of HCHO over the region. We speculate that the previous study appears to be due to low temporal and spatial resolution of GOME measurements or uncertainty in model input data.