ENVIRONMENT – The Crêt de la Neige is no longer the roof of the Jura. The mountain range that extends across both France and Switzerland has undergone a scientific upheaval thanks to a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Lausanne. They have in fact discovered a new peak in the Jura, a mountain that they had not previously even considered as a potential summit.
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According to the authors of this study, led among others by geophysicist György Hetényi and made public on Monday, September 9, the Jura massif therefore has a new highest point measured at 1,720.83 meters above sea level. Enough to surpass the previous holder of this title, the Crêt de la Neige, measured at 1,718 meters.
For now, the highest point of this mountain range is called ” J1 “, a name that refers to the famous K2, the summit of the Karakorum massif in Pakistan, which happens to be the second highest peak of Everest. The ” J1 ” also exceeds by a few centimeters another peak recently measured and quite logically named ” J2 “, which has an altitude very close to that of Crêt de la Neige.
The « J1 “, located in the Haute Chaîne du Jura nature reserve, in the Ain department, was measured using GPS antennas placed at the top of each peak. With this method, scientists were able to reduce the margin of error of their measurements to just 5 centimeters for this new mountain peak.
In a ” remarkably preserved region »
Moreover, the ” J1 ” could have remained secret for a long time without the use of these modern methods, especially because the area where it was discovered is not easy to find, as György Hetényi explains in the press release accompanying the publication of his findings.
“The J1 had not attracted much attention until now, probably because it is not very visible, surrounded by trees, and because traditional methods of calculation by triangulation are based on the intervisibility of the peaks”says the co-author of the study, who specifies that it is ” in a remarkably preserved region ” This is why its exact coordinates will not be communicated to the public, as the mountain is located in a protected area where, for example, the lynx and the capercaillie, two protected species, live.
This discovery also originates from a topographical inconsistency in the Jura massif, the title of highest point of which was previously disputed between the Crêt de la Neige and the Reculet (now measured at 1,717.14 metres). Even today, all available topographic maps do not agree on their altitudes.“, we can read in the introduction of the study. An enigma that motivated György Hetényi to investigate.
“I noticed an intriguing and unclear contour line on one of the maps”he explains to define the starting point of this discovery, made possible by the combined work of a whole team of specialists from the University of Lausanne in July.
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