A method for comparing sea ice velocity, divergence, and shear at the large-scale between buoys and Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) is presented. For initial testing, the method is applied in the Eurasian Basin because of its relatively simple circulation dominated by the wind. Using eight Argos buoys, 11 strain rate arrays 100--600 km in size are constructed. Daily 100 km resolution sea ice motion derived from SSM/I 85 GHz brightness temperatures is sampled 100--1000 km from the center of the buoy arrays. Over this range of possible scales, a minimum RMS difference (RMSD) for deformation is used to identify an optimal inclusion radius of 600 km corresponding to a length scale of 1000 km. This length scale is typical of local storms confirming a strong connection between wind and observed sea ice motion. On the basis of all 11 arrays, an average RMSD of 2.48¿0.05 cm s-1 for velocity vector and 8.8¿0.9¿10-8 s-1 using all four deformation components (∂ui/∂xj) is found at the optimal inclusion radius corresponding to average correlation coefficients of 0.896¿0.002 and 0.729¿0.030, respectively. RMSD are found to scale with the temporal and spatial uncertainties of the SSM/I suggesting that even better results can be achieved with higher resolution instruments. ¿ 2000 American Geophysical Union