Filter-based optical measurements of black carbon in air, a constituent of soot, have been determined with a 528 nm light source during the period from 1 June 2005 to 31 May 2009 on samples taken at Godavari in Nepal, Sinhagad in India and Hanimaadhoo in the Maldives. In order to reduce systematic errors due to the light scattering of non-absorbing particles co-deposited on the filter, such as inorganic salts and mineral dust, an additional sensor recording backscattered light was implemented. Two protocols of corrections (optical and chemical) were applied to the samples collected at the observatories. The Indian monsoon circulation with its two annual phases in combination with the location of the combustion sources and their contribution relative to other non-anthropogenic sources dominated the observed patterns of black carbon at two of the observatories: in India and the Maldives. The observatory in Nepal was however mainly influenced by combustion sources all year around concealing possible variability related to the monsoon circulation. At the receptor observatory in the Maldives, peak values in the black carbon absorption coefficient occurred during the winter season (December to April) when air was transported from the polluted Indian subcontinent out over the Indian Ocean. A close to two orders of magnitude lower values were recorded in air that had spent more than 10-days over the Indian Ocean during the monsoon season (July to September), suggested to be dominated by particulate matter from remote marine biogenic sources and not by combustion sources.