The Environment Ministry and the Japan Meteorological Agency have opened a new website to jointly publicize yellow sand information. The ministry and the agency had previously posted yellow sand information on separate websites, making data access by Web visitors less user friendly. Data provided by the weather agency for the unified website are three-day forecasts on yellow sand, relevant data collected at 85 weather observatories across Japan and levels of yellow sand measured through visual observation in China and South Korea. Data offered by the Environment Ministry for the new site include yellow sand data collected at 17 locations both at home and abroad through laser beam. Measurement of yellow sand using laser beam is said to provide more accurate data than visual observation as the beam can detect particles of yellow sand flying up to 6,000 meters high, although haze may be mistaken for yellow sand.