Systems and methods are provided for visually realistic simulation and real-time rendering of natural atmospheric lighting and related phenomena in an outdoor scene represented by an image provided by a simulation environment. The systems and methods of the present invention provide techniques to approximate the visual effects of natural atmospheric lighting and related phenomena that are visually realistic and that can be computed in real-time to render frames of a scene at real-time frame rates per second. The techniques consider the light scattering effects due to sunlight and ambient light in relation to objects, atmospheric particles and other scene elements represented by the image.