Canada's glacial ice draws millions of tourists and provides drinking water to two countries, but this important economic resource could disappear by the end of the 21st century, a new study finds.

For the study, scientists devised a new computer model that predicts how glaciers will respond to future climate change. The results were dismal.

In the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia, 90 percent of the spectacular mountain glaciers may vanish by 2100, according to research published Monday (April 6) in the journal Nature Geoscience. This region includes the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park, visited by more than 1 million people every year. Rocky Mountain glaciers also feed meltwater to the Columbia River, which flows through Canada and the United States. [Images of Melt: Earth's Vanishing Ice]

Changes to glaciers through 2100 in the Canadian Rockies. Scientists devised a computer model that predicts how glaciers will respond to future climate change. Garry Clarke

"Over the next century, there is going to be a huge loss," said lead study author Garry Clarke, a glaciologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. "The glaciers are telling us that we're changing the climate."

Glaciers in the wetter, taller mountains of northwestern British Columbia will fare better, the study reported. These glaciers can shrink back into the cold, high-elevation mountains and will keep about 50 percent of their volume by the century's end. "The mountain peaks are essentially refugia for glaciers," Clarke told Live Science.