**6. Summary and discussion**

To characterize the fundamental aspects of seismicity, we examined the earthquake catalog in the CSES area. We determine the cut-off magnitude with 4.0 in this study according to the temporal distribution of completeness magnitude and the features of the database containing historical and modern earthquake catalog. Further research showed that ergodicity persists over the vast majority of the time from 1980 to the present, presenting evidence for the meta-stable equilibrium hypotheses. The clustering of Wenchuan aftershocks makes the Yunnan area's ergodicity superior to that of Sichuan's, which means Sichuan's influence on the ergodicity of the whole CSES is dominant. Four earthquakes, that is, August 3, 2014, Ludian *M*S6.5 earthquake; October 7, 2014, Jinggu *M*S6.6 earthquake; May 21, 2021, Yangbi *M*S6.4 earthquake; and September 5, 2022, Luding *M*S6.8 earthquake, whose potential was assessed using the nowcasting approach. To consider the influence of chosen parameters, we select radii 100, 150, and 200 km in the nowcasting method to analyze the EPS before the occurrence time of them. The outcome indicates that the EPS is high but does not achieve 100%, suggesting a scientific interpretation of the EPS when the next significant earthquake in this area is about to occur.

It was revealed in this research that the nowcasting approach may be used to define the earthquake potential after the geographical area has been identified. How far the prediction window from now can be given by this approach, in reality, is one of the concerns that need further debate. For this problem, combining the Annual Consultation Conference in China with the nowcasting approach may be a viable option, which may determine its relevance to the particular earthquake work in different locations. Previous research has shown that such yearly forecasts perform better than random guesses [40]. However, for the nowcasting technique, the present EPS is a crucial and fundamental piece of knowledge when we want to understand the potential in the sphere of catastrophe preparation.
