The interaction between moisture and baroclinic eddies was examined through eddy life-cycle experiments using a global, primitive equation model. How condensation affects the structural evolution of eddies, their fluxes of heat, moisture, and momentum, and their subsequent interaction with the zonal average state was examined. Initial states corresponded to climatological winter and summer zonal average states. For most experiments the perturbation had a fundamental zonal wavenumber 7, representing an appropriate scale for transient eddies that reach substantial amplitudes in the atmosphere. Additional experiments used fundamental wavenumber 4, 10, or 14. The wave's vertical motion produced midtropospheric supersaturation whose heating further amplified the vertical motion. Consequently, the largest effects of condensation were associated with vertical transports. Compared to corresponding dry experiments, intensified vertical motions increased the maximum kinetic energy attained by the wave, but... Abstract The interaction between moisture and baroclinic eddies was examined through eddy life-cycle experiments using a global, primitive equation model. How condensation affects the structural evolution of eddies, their fluxes of heat, moisture, and momentum, and their subsequent interaction with the zonal average state was examined. Initial states corresponded to climatological winter and summer zonal average states. For most experiments the perturbation had a fundamental zonal wavenumber 7, representing an appropriate scale for transient eddies that reach substantial amplitudes in the atmosphere. Additional experiments used fundamental wavenumber 4, 10, or 14. The wave's vertical motion produced midtropospheric supersaturation whose heating further amplified the vertical motion. Consequently, the largest effects of condensation were associated with vertical transports. Compared to corresponding dry experiments, intensified vertical motions increased the maximum kinetic energy attained by the wave, but...