Rainfall deficit is defined here as the rainfall minus the reference evapotranspiration (ETo), and has been used in previous studies in Puerto Rico (e.g., Harmsen et al., 2009).  The “true” rainfall deficit is dependent on the potential crop evapotranspiration, however, the reference evapotranspiration may serve as an approximation of the potential crop evapotranspiration for a typical, mature crop.  If the monthly rainfall deficit is positive it means that there was more rainfall than the crop needed, if, however, the rainfall deficit is negative then the monthly rainfall was insufficient to meet the crop water requirement.   The units of rainfall deficit are in millimeters.

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