The classical multidimensional scaling(MDS) method is introduced and applied in the study of the hour-to-hour ionospheric variability based on the ionospheric fo F2 observed at three ionosonde stations in East-Asia in 2002 and 2007. Results from the matrix eigen decompositions indicate that the annual part of the ionospheric variation is large in middle latitude and solar maximum period(2002) while low in the low latitude and solar minimum period(2007). The connectivity maps of the hour-to-hour ionospheric variability based on MDS method show some common diurnal features. The ionospheric connectivity between adjacent hours near noon hours and near midnight hours is high. The ionospheric connectivity between adjacent hours near sunrise hours and near sunset hours is poor, especially for the sunrise hours. Also there are latitudinal and solar activity dependences in this kind of connectivity. These results revealed from the ionospheric connectivity maps are useful physically and in practice for the ionospheric forecasting on the hour-to-hour scale.
