We study the structure of a model surface, i.e., an Fe monolayer on W(110) by nuclear resonant scattering of x rays. We conclude that at room temperature the structure is nearly perfect, whereas when increasing the temperature up to 770 K an increasing fraction of the Fe atoms feels the appearance of defects manifested by a beat structure due to an electric field gradient. The field gradient is caused by an asymmetry of the neighborhood of part of the atoms and attributable to an increasing fraction of vacancies in the monolayer. With increasing temperature the beat structure gets smeared due to the onset of dynamics in the surface, i.e., the motion of the defects and consequently of the atoms. From the temperature dependence of the amplitude of the beat we deduce the vacancy concentration, thus the vacancy formation energy [0.17(5) eV] and from the broadening with less accuracy we deduce the vacancy migration energy [0.16(6) eV] resulting in 0.33(11) eV for the activation energy of diffusion.