The elastic deformation of the surface of thin MgO films grown on Fe(001) induced by the presence of misfit dislocations at the Fe/MgO interface has been put into evidence using low‐energy electron diffraction. Satellite spots surrounding the fundamental Bragg reflections appear once the critical thickness is exceeded and undergo a shift in position as thickness of MgO increases, gradually blending in with the fundamental reflections. The evolution of the position of the spots is in good agreement with kinematical diffraction calculations in which the surface deformation is determined from the displacement field of a single misfit dislocation using both isotropic and anisotropic elasticity theory. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.