AbstractThe bubble breakups in a jet bubbling reactor are captured using a high‐speed camera and the velocity field is measured by particle image velocimetry. Two typical breakup patterns, jet breakup and jet‐vortex breakup are observed. The breakup time interval of the jet‐vortex breakup is two orders of magnitude higher than the jet breakup. The probability of the jet‐vortex breakup and the jet breakup accounting in the total breakup events increases and decreases with the jet velocity and the mother bubble size, respectively. The bubble breakup region increases with the jet velocity. The bubble breakup frequency increases with the turbulent dissipation rate and the mother bubble size. The average number of daughter bubbles increases with the Weber number. An L‐shaped daughter bubble size distribution is observed. Empirical correlations are established for the bubble breakup frequency, the average number of daughter bubbles and daughter bubble size distribution, and fitted well with the experimental results.