The decorrelation of the characteristic speckle pattern, produced by the scattering of coherent light from a random rough surface, is used to monitor changes in the microtopography of the surface. In a basic optical setup minute alterations down to a few nanometers can be measured. To enlighten the basic relations between the speckle field decorrelation and the surface changes a theoretical model is developed, numerical calculations are carried out and comparisons with high resolution AFM measurements on two frozen states of a surface process are undertaken. Whereas the reproducibility of the AFM measurement turns out to be not precise enough to measure nanometer changes on a micrometer scale rough surface, the theoretical model is consistent with results gained from experimental variation of wavelenght and angle of illumination and a-priori knowledge about the surface. It is then used to obtain information about magnitude, time constants and statistical parameters of a corrosion process.