"then why is the same phenomena present in the other photos yet Saddle Peak is 2600 feet too high and the horizon is horribly misplaced. "
Refraction, rounding errors of measurement, inversions, mirage, etc.
How do you account for the difference?
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WDdwP0Ucomk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I explained most of it previously....the view of the horizon across water gets really goofy:
"We certainly see refractions and mirages at play much of the time as well....especially at the horizon and over water...but the light from objects beyond the horizon/vanishing point and generally lower in elevation is usually bent downward creating views like the missing oil rig legs...or sky on the horizon where we know land is (reference my photo study...sky where Ventura/Oxnard should be).
As for mirages...like Superior or Fata Morgana...I don't recall seeing these w/o also seeing the object that is being miraged....i.e. we typical see the object and an inverted distorted mirage above it....sometime we'll see a double non inverted but heavily distorted mirage above the first. These are obvious...and obviously not responsible for the position of the ridge lines and peaks in the above photos."
With the way our eyes work everything below the horizon line slopes up and everything above slopes downward....to the horizon / vanishing point. The farther things are in the distance the smaller they get. Saddle Peak is well above the horizon line....so it's still visible....most all of it (though partially hidden by a ridge this side of it). Problem with that is only the top 200 ft should be visible i.e. the horizon line should be 2600 ft higher (relative to SP's location) just like the Peakfinder.org view. It never looks like that ever...and it really should...if we lived on a sphere with a 3959 mile radius.
Re the above video of the ship sailing into the distance. Same thing as explained above. The farther away the ship (maybe 100' tall) gets the smaller it appears....due to perspective (duh). As it reaches the vanishing point the bottom starts to disapear first due to refractions / lensing across water. Zooming in will keep the object in view longer but it will eventually disappear as well. This is why I always try to get a bit of elevation to get away from these effects. I've seen the horizon line move / refract / mirror a few hundred feet with the longer views making things like the lower part of the islands, coastlines disappear or in this case the ship...look like it's sailing over then below the horizon....but it's not.
Ships sailing over the horizon proving we live on a sphere is one of classic lies taught to us in school....but once you study it in detail...the argument falls apart rather quickly.