If we are talking about the USEFUL lifting force, then the graph shows that at an altitude of two-thirds of the height of the cloud, the value will be approximately 20% of the maximum and this is quite consistent with the USEFUL.
In the simulator, the thermal is rigidly tied to the coordinates of the cloud, and the cloud is tied to the current coordinates of the earth. Also, the values of AMBIENT WIND VELOCITY and AMBIENT WIND Y are known. There are no problems to determine the slope of the thermal, its location and the location of the glider at a specific point of the thermal.
This is a big misconception. In the real world, they can only be connected in very rare cases., with a strong current and very weak wind. As a rule, the wind tears off the ascending bubble of warm air before its upper edge reaches the height of condensation and forms a cloud.
We will be able to observe such rare cases even in the simulator when the cloud thermal will “fly” over the terrestrial thermal.
The most typical examples of linking clouds and terrestrial thermals may be clouds over sunny mountain slopes. At the same time, wave clouds are not such.