A large‐scale wave flume experiment has been carried out involving a T = 4 s regular wave with H = 0.85 m wave height plunging over a fixed barred beach profile. Velocity profiles were measured at 12 locations along the breaker bar using LDA and ADV. A strong undertow is generated reaching magnitudes of 0.8 m/s on the shoreward side of the breaker bar. A circulation pattern occurs between the breaking area and the inner surf zone. Time‐averaged turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is largest in the breaking area on the shoreward side of the bar where the plunging jet penetrates the water column. At this location, and on the bar crest, TKE generated at the water surface in the breaking process reaches the bottom boundary layer. In the breaking area, TKE does not reduce to zero within a wave cycle which leads to a high level of “residual” turbulence and therefore lower temporal variation in TKE compared to previous studies of breaking waves on plane beach slopes. It is argued that this residual turbulence results from the breaker bar‐trough geometry, which enables larger length scales and time scales of breaking‐generated vortices and which enhances turbulence production within the water column compared to plane beaches. Transport of TKE is dominated by the undertow‐related flux, whereas the wave‐related and turbulent fluxes are approximately an order of magnitude smaller. Turbulence production and dissipation are largest in the breaker zone and of similar magnitude, but in the shoaling zone and inner surf zone production is negligible and dissipation dominates.

Detailed measurements are presented of velocities and turbulence under a large‐scale regular plunging breaking wave in a wave flume. Measurements were obtained at 12 cross‐shore locations around a mobile medium‐sand breaker bar. They focused particularly on the dynamics of the wave bottom boundary layer (WBL) and near‐bed turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), measured with an Acoustic Concentration and Velocity Profiler (ACVP). The breaking process and outer flow hydrodynamics are in agreement with previous laboratory and field observations of plunging waves, including a strong undertow in the bar trough region. The WBL thickness matches with previous studies at locations offshore from the bar crest, but it increases near the breaking‐wave plunge point. This relates possibly to breaking‐induced TKE or to the diverging flow at the shoreward slope of the bar. Outer flow TKE is dominated by wave breaking and exhibits strong spatial variation with largest TKE above the breaker bar crest. Below the plunge point, breaking‐induced turbulence invades the WBL during both crest and trough half cycle. This results in an increase in the time‐averaged TKE in the WBL (with a factor 3) and an increase in peak onshore and offshore near‐bed Reynolds stresses (with a factor 2) from shoaling to breaking region. A fraction of locally produced TKE is advected offshore over a distance of a few meters to shoaling locations during the wave trough phase, and travels back onshore during the crest half cycle. The results imply that breaking‐induced turbulence, for large‐scale conditions, may significantly affect near‐bed sediment transport processes.