Small Nuclear War Could Reverse Global Warming for Years? (2011)

I'm not sure how this is a reasonable conclusion given that over 500 nuclear weapons were detonated during above-ground nuclear testing.

It's also worth mentioning that air burst detonation will suck up virtually no debris from the surface, and also produces very little fallout.

There's a lot of good information at this site: http://www.nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

Much of those tests were done over deserts or islands surrounded by water. A key part of the nuclear winter prediction is predicated on large scale fires.

There might, or might not, be "large scale fires" after a nuclear exchange. Regardless, "nuclear winter" is predicated on debris being injected high into the atmosphere, which will happen if lofted by the fireball, but not just from a regular fire.

Nuking the atmosphere to dictate the climate is how the Matrix started.

Nope.