Remote seismic surveying systems and methods are disclosed. At least some embodiments illuminate a water or ground surface with a beam from a coherent electromagnetic wave source. Reflected electromagnetic energy is focused onto an image plane where it combines with a reference beam to form an interference pattern. Electronics track the intensity versus time for multiple points in the image and derive displacement signals for various physical locations in the survey region. These displacement signals are associated with seismic source firing times and locations before being stored as seismic traces in a survey database. Some variations use the reflected electromagnetic energy to create multiple interference patterns that vary due to different path length differences, thereby eliminating signal phase ambiguities.