This study presents the measured unsteady flctuation of impeller discharge flow for a centrifugal compressor in an unstable operating region. The characteristics of the blade-to-blade flow at rotating stall onset were investigated by measuring unsteady velocity fluctuations at several different diffuser axial distances using a hot wire anemometer. The flow characteristics in terms of the radial and tangential velocity components and the flow angle distribution at the impeller exit were analyzed using phase-locked ensemble averaging techniques. As a result, increase or decrease of the radial velocity component during the rotating stall is dominated by that of the suction side. The radial velocity distributions show the opposite trends in the regions where the radial velocity during rotating stall onset increases and decreases.