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Fast degradation of the circular flare ribbon on 2014 August 24

The separation and elongation motions of solar flare ribbons have extensively been investigated. The degradation and disappearance of ribbons have rarely been explored. In this paper, we report our multiwavelength observations of a C5.5 circular-ribbon flare associated with two jets (jet1 and jet2) on 2014 August 24, focusing on the fast degradation of the outer circular ribbon (CR). The flare, consisting of a short inner ribbon (IR) and outer CR, was triggered by the eruption of a minifilament. The brightness of IR and outer CR reached their maxima simultaneously at $\sim$04:58 UT in all AIA wavelengths. Subsequently, the short eastern part of CR faded out quickly in 1600 Å but gradually in EUV wavelengths. The long western part of CR degraded in the counterclockwise direction and experienced a deceleration. The degradation was distinctly divided into two phases: phase I with faster apparent speeds (58$-$69 km s$^{-1}$) and phase II with slower apparent speeds (29$-$35 km s$^{-1}$). The second phase stopped at $\sim$05:10 UT when the western CR totally disappeared. Besides the outward propagation of jet1, the jet spire experienced untwisting motion in the counterclockwise direction during 04:55$-$05:00 UT. We conclude that the event can be explained by the breakout jet model. The coherent brightenings of the IR and CR at $\sim$04:58 UT may result from the impulsive interchange reconnection near the null point, whereas sub-Alfvénic slipping motion of the western CR in the counterclockwise direction indicates the occurrence of slipping magnetic reconnection. Another possible explanation of the quick disappearance of the hot loops connecting to the western CR is that they are simply reconnected sequentially without the need for significant slippage after the null point reconnection.